The French president Emmanuel Macron from Abidjan announced the partial end of the CFA franc, a currency linked to the euro and France used in 14 African nations, former French colonies.
So Emmanuel Macron said during the meeting with the Ivorian head of state, Alassane Ouattara. "The CFA franc raises many criticisms of France. I see your young people criticizing us for a relationship they consider post-colonial. So let's break the moorings".
The FCA franc was born under the name of Franco of the French Colonies of Africa and then became the acronym of African Financial Community.
Its place will be taken byECO. The change should currently only affect the eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA): Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
Congo, Central African Rep., Equatorial Guinea. Fabon, Chad and Cameron should remain tied to the CEMAC FCA franc.
In fact, despite the same name, the two currencies are interchangeable. The UEMOA area is issued by the Banque centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO) and that of the BEAC by the Banque des États de l'Afrique central (BEAC)
In addition to the change of name, the operational account at the Banque de France is expected to be eliminated and the French representatives who sit on the BCEAO bodies will also be withdrawn.
According to the monetary agreements in force up to now, the states of the UEMOA have the obligation to deposit at least 50% of their foreign exchange reserves with the Banque de France in exchange for a guarantee of convertibility with the euro. In 2015, they transferred € 19 billion to this account.
Despite the demise of the CFA, some of its fundamentals will remain as theEco will maintain a fixed parity with the Euro and its convertibility guarantee will still be provided by the Banque de France.