The Collapse of the Euro; the Fall of the CFA

Chika Ezeanya writes:

The Euro zone continues to falter as uncertainties surrounding the fiscal actions of Greece and Italy, skyrocketing unemployment figures and living costs lead to an even gloomier prediction. Conversely, most African economies are increasingly recording impressive growth rates in GDP and in other yardsticks.

One sore point of convergence in the Euro-Africa recession and growth dichotomy, however, is the Franc Zone. That is, those former French colonies still under the economic protection of France as evidenced by their use of the CFA franc as a unifying currency. While the rest of sub-Saharan African countries have in recent times recorded between 5 – 11% growth rates, the CFA franc zone has lagged behind at 2 – 3% and even less.

The CFA originally meant Colonies Francais d’Afrique or French Colonies of Africa and as the name implies was the currency imposed upon France’s colonies at the end of WWII. Several years after Independence, the name CFA has remained and only seemingly amended to now mean Communaute Financiere Africaine, or the African Financial Community.

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Images courtesy of Chika for Africa