Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) achieved independence from France in 1960. Repeated military coups during the 1970s and 1980s were followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s. Current President Blaise COMPAORE came to power in a 1987 military coup and has won every election since then. Burkina Faso's high population density and limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens. Recent unrest in Cote d'Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: West African CFA franc (ISO code: XOF)
* Central bank discount rate: 4.75% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: NA%
* Stock of money (M1): $1.068 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $751.3 million (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Burkina Faso: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01. 	3 015	2 611	2 813	3 290	4 270	5 109 	5 427 	5 771 	6 767 	7 948
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Burkina Faso: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Burkina Faso: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01. 	 	 	 	 	 	12.763	12.560	12.967	13.570	13.593
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Burkina Faso: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01.	 	 	 	 	 	10.337	11.159	12.833	13.884	12.789
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Burkina Faso on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Burkina Faso
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries