Burkina Faso coup cost economy more than $50 mln -govt

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - A failed military coup in Burkina Faso last month cost its flagging economy more than $50 million in lost revenue, the finance minister said on Wednesday. The economy ground to a halt for about 10 days with banks and businesses closed and employees unable to travel to work after an elite military unit seized power, took interim leaders hostage and disrupted the country's democratic transition. The week-long power grab failed and its leaders have since been arrested, although elections originally scheduled for this week have been postponed. [ID:nL8N1264QP] "The Ministry of the Economy and Finance estimates the loss of tax revenue to be 11 billion CFA francs ($18.90 million) and of customs receipts to be 9.7 billion CFA francs ($16.67 million)," finance minister Jean Gustave Sanon told Reuters. "In total, the treasury losses amounts to 30.8 billion CFA francs ($52.93 million) for the state," he added. Burkina Faso, a cotton and gold producer, had already seen its economy slow due to reduced commodities prices and reduced investment during the transition. Sanon said the coup would trim economic growth by 0.3 pct this year, leaving expected growth at 4-4.5 percent. The World Bank says growth was 6 percent last year. ($1 = 581.8800 CFA francs) (Reporting by Nadoun Coulibaly; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)