LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 8, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has assigned its 'B' long-term unsecured debt rating to the proposed CFA franc 35 billion bond to be issued by Burkina Faso (B/Stable/B). The bond is expected to have a five-year maturity, and to start amortizing in 2014. Burkina Faso's real GDP growth reached 7.9% in 2010, up from 3.2% in 2009. This is expected to slow moderately to 5.2% in 2011, in part owing to external and internal shocks. We estimate that GDP growth between 2011 and 2014 will average over 5.5% per year. Growth in 2011 is supported by the mining and agricultural sectors, despite the adverse effects of internal social unrest in
