CFA franc

CFA franc (French: franc CFA, [fʁɑ̃ seɛfɑ]) is the name of two currencies used by 227 million people (as of 2026) in fourteen African countries: West African CFA franc (where "CFA" stands for Communauté Financière Africaine, i.e. "African Financial Community" in English), used in eight West African countries, with ISO currency code XOF; Central African CFA franc (where "CFA" stands for Coopération Financière en Afrique centrale, i.e. "Financial Cooperation in Central Africa" in English), used in six Central African countries, with ISO currency code XAF. Although the two currencies are commonly called CFA franc and (currently) have the same value, they are not interchangeable. It is therefore not a common monetary zone but two juxtaposed zones. Both CFA francs have a fixed exchange rate (peg) to the euro guaranteed by France: €1 = F.CFA 655.957 exactly. To ensure this convertibility guarantee, member countries were required to deposit half of their foreign exchange reserves with the French Treasury, but this requirement was dropped in 2019 (effective in 2021) for the West African CFA franc. This requirement remains unchanged for the Central African CFA franc, which was not reformed in 2019. These currencies have been criticized for restricting the sovereignty of the African member states, effectively putting their monetary policy in the hands of the European Central Bank. Others argue that countries using CFA franc are all equal and that CFA franc "helps stabilize the national currencies of Franc Zone member-countries and greatly facilitates the flow of exports and imports between France and the member-countries". On 22 December 2019, it was announced that the West African currency would be reformed and replaced by an independent currency to be called Eco. In May 2020, the French National Assembly agreed to end the French engagement in the West African CFA franc, including the foreign...