Bordering the North
Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania, Senegal has a well-entrenched
democratic system with some 26 registered political parties. However, separatism in the
southern region of Casamance has long been a problem and a challenge to the
integrity of the Senegalese state. A former French colony, Senegal gained its independence
in 1960.
Senegal's economy is
the fourth largest in Western Africa, after those of Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.
The agricultural sector contributes one-fifth of GDP and supports 75% of the working
population. The marine fishing industry is the leading exporter, followed by groundnuts
and phosphate products. Tourism is also a major foreign exchange earner. In January 1994,
Senegal undertook an economic reform program with the support of the international donor
community. This reform began with a 50% devaluation of Senegal's currency, the CFA franc,
which is linked at a fixed rate to the French franc. Government price controls and
subsidies have been steadily dismantled. This brought a real growth in GDP of 5.6%
in 1996 and 4.7% in 1997 after a sluggish economic growth in the years before. As a member
of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), Senegal is working toward greater
regional integration with a unified external tariff. In the political scene, multiparty
system was restored in 1970 in Senegal after many years of a single party system, and long
before the present wave of democratisation in Africa.
The total number of
connected lines was 165,900, giving a telephone density of 1.79 line per hundred
population.
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