Economy of Vatican City
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2011) |
 |
Please expand this article. More information might be found in a section of the talk page. (October 2011) |
| Economy of Vatican City | |
|---|---|
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Fiscal year | Calendar year |
| Statistics | |
| Main industries | printing, production of coins, medals, postage stamps, mosaics and staff uniforms and financial services |
| External | |
| Public finances | |
| Economic aid | Peter's Pence |
| Main data source: CIA World Fact Book All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars |
|
The unique, noncommercial economy of Vatican City is supported financially by contributions (known as Peter's Pence) from Roman Catholics throughout the world, the sale of postage stamps and tourist mementos, fees for admission to museums, and the sale of publications.
The Vatican also conducts worldwide financial activities, the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (also known with the acronym IOR and wrongly known as the Vatican Bank). This Institute has an ATM with instructions in Latin, possibly the only such ATM in the world.[1]
The Vatican has often been accused by critics of being excessively wealthy, as in Avro Manhattan's The Vatican Billions. However, the papal state has previously run budget deficits and obtains much of its money from international donations such as Peter's Pence.
[edit] Key statistics
Budget:
- revenues: $355.5 million (2008)
- expenditures: $356.8 million (2008) [2]
Industries: printing and production of a small amount of mosaics and staff uniforms; worldwide banking and financial activities
Electricity - production: 442 MWh (2010) from solar panels
Electricity - imports: Electricity supplied by Italy
Currency: The euro since 2002. Vatican depends on Italy for practical production of banknotes, stamps and other valuable titles. Due to its rarity, the Vatican's euro coins are highly sought by collectors.
Fiscal year: calendar year
[edit] References
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2010 edition".
