Republic of Guinea-Bissau

República da Guiné-Bissau

CAPITAL: Bissau

FLAG: The flag has equal horizontal stripes of yellow over green, with a red vertical stripe at the hoist bearing a black star.

ANTHEM: Esta é a Nossa Pátria Bem Amada (This Is Our Well-Beloved Land).

MONETARY UNIT: The Communauté Financière Africaine franc (CFA Fr) replaced the Guinean peso (PG) as official currency in May 1997. The CFA franc, which was originally pegged to the French franc, has been pegged to the euro since January 1999 with a rate of 655.957 CFA francs to 1 euro. The CFA france comes in coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 500 CFA francs, and notes of 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 CFA francs. CFA Fr1 = $0.00167 (or $1 = CFA Fr597.577) as of May 2003.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is used.

HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Death of Amilcar Cabral, 20 January; Labor Day, 1 May; Anniversary of the Killing of Pidjiguiti, 3 August; National Day, 24 September...