e
authority is the Central Bank of the West African States

Currency code:
XOF

Exchange rates:
Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar -
523.721 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99
(2002)

Fiscal year:
calendar year

Communications Burkina Faso

Telephones - main lines in use:
97,400 (2005)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
572,200 (2005)

Telephone system:
general assessment: all services only fair
domestic: microwave radio relay, open-wire, and radiotelephone
communication stations
international: country code - 226; satellite earth station - 1
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 3, FM 17, shortwave 3 (2002)

Radios:
394,020 (2000)

Television broadcast stations:
1 (2002)

Televisions:
131,340 (2002)

Internet country code:
.bf

Internet hosts:
399 (2006)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
1 (2002)

Internet users:
64,600 (2005)

Transportation Burkina Faso

Airports:
34 (2006)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 2
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 (2006)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 32
1,524 to 2,437 m: 3
914 to 1,523 m: 11
under 914 m: 18 (2006)

Railways:
total: 622 km
narrow gauge: 622 km 1.000-m gauge
note:: another 660 km of this railway extends into Cote D'Ivoire
(2005)

Roadways:
total: 15,272 km
paved: 4,766 km
unpaved: 10,506 km (2004)

Military Burkina Faso

Military branches:
Army, Air Force of Burkina Faso (Force Aerienne de Burkina Faso),
National Gendarmerie (2006)

Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age for compulsory military service; 20 years of age
for voluntary military service (2001)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 2,651,687 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 1,530,324 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$74.83 million (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.3% (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues Burkina Faso

Disputes - international:
two villages are in dispute along the border with Benin; Benin
accuses Burkina Faso of moving boundary pillars; Burkina Faso border
regions remain a staging area for Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire rebels
and an asylum for refugees caught in local fighting; the Ivoirian
Government accuses Burkina Faso of sheltering Ivoirian