Best Bitcoin Card for Senegal
The Republic of Senegal lies in the far west of Africa and, with an area of 196,722 km², is about half the size of Germany. The river Senegal, which marks a large part of the north and northeast border, gave the country its name. Senegal borders Mauritania in the north, Mali in the east, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau in the south, and the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Along the lower reaches of the Gambia River, the Republic of Gambia extends about 350 km as an enclave into the state territory of Senegal.
Most of the country consists of coastal lowlands, which rise only gradually in the east towards the Guinean mountainous region of Fouta-Djalon, the foothills of which reach heights of 300 m to a maximum of 581 m in the extreme southeast of Senegal. The rivers Senegal, Saloum, Gambia and Casamance flow through the coastal plain in an east-west direction. About 700 km of the 1 430 km long Senegal flow through the country of the same name. The main source of the Senegal river originates in the mountains of Guinea and is called Bafing. The Atlantic coast is predominantly flat and little indented except for the peninsula Cape Verde (Cap Vert) formed from former volcanic islands, which forms the westernmost headland of Africa (not to be confused with the island state Cape Verde of the same name, whose islands lie approx. 700 km off the coast).
Political System
Senegal is a republic with a presidential system, the constitution dates from 2001. The head of state is the president (since April 2012 Macky Sall), who is elected for five years (re-election possible) and has far-reaching powers. The head of the government is the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President (Prime Minister Ministre, since July 2014 Mohamed Ben Abdallah Dionne). He appoints the ministers in consultation with the president.
The legislative power lies with the two-chamber parliament, consisting of the Senate (Sénat) with 100 members – 35 elected, 65 appointed by the President – and the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) with 150 deputies, directly elected by the people for five years.Senegal is divided into 14 regions.
Economy
Senegal is a developing country, almost half of the population lives in poverty. Since the mid-1990s, the economy, which until then had been predominantly state-controlled, has been increasingly liberalised and privatised.
Agriculture employs 77% of the total population. It forms the natural basis of life for the rapidly growing population and is mostly practised as a subsistence economy. Droughts, overgrazing and soil erosion prevent yields from feeding the country’s inhabitants. Food is one of Senegal’s most important imports. Fish, fish products and peanuts account for about one third of Senegal’s export volume. For their own needs, small farmers cultivate millet, rice, manioc, potatoes, vegetables and cotton.
The most important growth area is the service sector (especially finance, telecommunications and real estate). Tourism is an important source of foreign exchange in Senegal.
The most important industries are textiles and food processing, chemicals (oil processing, fertilizer production) and building materials. Senegal has phosphate and oil reserves of mineral resources, but the latter have not yet been extracted and phosphate mining is declining. The energy demand is largely covered by imported crude oil.
The most important import trading partner is still France, followed by Nigeria and India. Most goods are currently sold to Mali, Switzerland and India. The country has about 4,300 km of asphalt roads (a total of about 14,500 km) and about 900 km of rail. Dakar has a large seaport. The large international airport is also located in the vicinity of the capital. The currency is the CFA franc.