Guinea-Bissau

Since independence from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has experienced considerable political and military upheaval. In 1980, a military coup established authoritarian dictator Joao Bernardo 'Nino' VIEIRA as president. Despite setting a path to a market economy and multiparty system, VIEIRA's regime was characterized by the suppression of political opposition and the purging of political rivals. Several coup attempts through the 1980s and early 1990s failed to unseat him. In 1994 VIEIRA was elected president in the country's first free elections. A military mutiny and resulting civil war in 1998 eventually led to VIEIRA's ouster in May 1999. In February 2000, a transitional government turned over power to opposition leader Kumba YALA after he was elected president in transparent polling. In September 2003, after only three years in office, YALA was ousted by the military in a bloodless coup, and businessman Henrique ROSA was sworn in as interim president. In 2005, former President VIEIRA was re-elected president pledging to pursue economic development and national reconciliation; he was assassinated in March 2009. Malam Bacai SANHA was elected in an emergency election held in June 2009.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: West African CFA franc (ISO code: XOF)
* Central bank discount rate: 4.75% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: NA% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $171.2 million (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $17.99 million (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Guinea-Bissau: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01. 	224 	215 	199 	204 	236 	285 	302 	317 	382 	430
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Guinea-Bissau: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Guinea-Bissau: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Guinea-Bissau: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01.	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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==
* Guinea-Bissau on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Guinea-Bissau
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries