On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that eight West African countries are going to stop using the CFA franc. The Franc de la Communauté Financière Africaine (CFA) dates from the colonial era and will be replaced by the eco.
The CFA franc was introduced by the then French president Charles de Gaulle in 1945, when these countries were still French colonies. At that time, the CFA franc was linked to the French franc and later to the euro.
French control remains
The countries that quit the CFA franc no longer have to hold reserves in France, which also has less say in the policy of the new currency. The new currency, the eco, will remain pegged to the euro. Eco is a reference to Ecowas, an economic partnership of West African countries.
It is striking that, despite the transition to the eco, France continues to exert so much influence on financial policy in West Africa.
The countries that stop the CFA franc are Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Togo.
There are also countries where the CFA Franc continues to exist. These are the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Cameroon and Chad.
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