Senegal

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Country summary

Capital

Dakar

Borders

The Gambia 740 km, Guinea 330 km, Guinea-Bissau 338 km, Mali 419 km, Mauritania 813 km

Government type

republic

Population

13,711,597 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth

2.709% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

59 years[1]

Unemployment

48% (2007 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

119[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

99[3]

Doing Business ranking

157[4]


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.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: CFA franc (ISO code: XOF)
  • Central bank discount rate: 4.25% (31 December 2009)[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: NA% (31 December 2009 )[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $2.658 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $1.599 billion (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[6] 5 151 4 692 4 878 5 334 6 858 8 030 8 688 9 370 11 320 13 273
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[7] 83.614 73.724 68.852
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[8] 16.002 16.877 16.840
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[9] 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.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Senegal", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  2. Heritage Foundation. "Senegal", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  3. Transparency International. "Senegal", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  4. Doing Business. "Senegal", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  5. Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 381. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  6. World Bank. "Senegal: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  7. World Bank. "Senegal: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  8. World Bank. "Senegal: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
  9. World Bank. "Senegal: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.

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