It's a page of history that is turning, sixty years after African independence. A bill, adopted Wednesday in the Council of Ministers, confirms the decision taken last December to end the CFA franc. Created at the Liberation in 1945, it meant "the franc of the French colonies in Africa" . A whole symbol. The CFA franc "was seen as one of the vestiges of Françafrique", had justified Emmanuel Macron on December 21, in Abidjan, when the agreement was signed between France and the member states of the West African Monetary Union (WAEMU: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea- Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo). The six countries of the Cemac zone of central Africa, which also use the CFA franc but constitute another specific monetary zone, are not concerned by the reform.
Read also: The end of the CFA Franc: what will change
Concretely, the text formalizes the change of name from CFA franc to eco. A choice dictated by its ease of pronunciation in French and English. Another important provision is that the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) will no longer have to deposit half of its foreign exchange reserves with the Banque de France. It may freely dispose of its reserves. This obligation was seen as a humiliating dependence on Paris by critics of the CFA franc.
