The sovereign ratings on Burkina Faso remain constrained by the country's very low level of development, with GDP per capita among the lowest in the world at below $600 in 2009. In Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' view, this leaves Burkina Faso's narrow economy very vulnerable to external shocks and with very little flexibility to react to economic challenges. We expect Burkina Faso's economy to be hurt by the global economic slowdown. This, along with lower external demand for gold production and low cotton prices, will in our opinion further weaken the country's already minimal external and fiscal flexibility. Standard&Poor's estimates the general government deficit (excluding grants) at 11% of GDP in 2009. Although we expect the deficit
