Jump to navigation

Vol 51 No 14

Published 9th July 2010


The falling euro drags down the CFA franc

A relic of France’s African economic empire, the CFA zone must cope with the impact of Western Europe’s monetary disarray

The continuing crisis of the rich world’s financial system has thrown off balance the main surviving element of France’s African empire, the franc of the Communauté financière d’Afrique. Both are better known as the CFA. This monetary arrangement sees 15 mostly small and very poor countries use the CFA franc as their currency. The central pillar of the system is that the exchange rate of the CFA is fixed to the euro, the currency of 16 of the 27 European Union countries.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 1470 words.

End of preview

Subscribers: Log in now to read the complete article.

Account Holders: Log in now and use your Account Credit to buy this article. No Credit? Top up your Account now.


If you are logged in, but still cannot access the full text of this article, email customer services or telephone us on +44(0)1638 743633.