Senegal

The French colonies of Senegal and the French Sudan were merged in 1959 and granted their independence as the Mali Federation in 1960. The union broke up after only a few months. Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal confederation of Senegambia in 1982. The envisaged integration of the two countries was never carried out, and the union was dissolved in 1989. The Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance (MFDC) has led a low-level separatist insurgency in southern Senegal since the 1980s, and several peace deals have failed to resolve the conflict. Nevertheless, Senegal remains one of the most stable democracies in Africa. Senegal was ruled by a Socialist Party for 40 years until current President Abdoulaye WADE was elected in 2000. He was reelected in February 2007 and has amended Senegal's constitution over a dozen times to increase executive power and to weaken the opposition, part of the President's increasingly autocratic governing style. Senegal has a long history of participating in international peacekeeping and regional mediation.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: CFA franc (ISO code: XOF)
* Central bank discount rate: 4.25% (31 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: NA% (31 December 2009 )
* Stock of money (M1): $2.658 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $1.599 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Senegal: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04. 	5 151 	4 692 	4 878 	5 334	6 858	8 030	8 688	9 370	11 320	13 273
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Senegal: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04. 	83.614	73.724	68.852	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Senegal: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04. 	16.002	16.877	16.840	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Senegal: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.	11.439	12.759	14.555	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Debt to revenue (years) 	5.225 	4.368 	4.089 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==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==
* Senegal on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Senegal
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries