Central African CFA franc

The Central African CFA franc (French: franc CFA or simply franc, ISO 4217 code: XAF) is the currency of six independent states in Central Africa: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. These six countries have a combined population of 55.2 million people (as of 2020),[1] and a combined GDP of US$113.322 billion (as of 2020).[2]

Central African CFA franc
franc CFA BEAC  (French)
1000 Central African CFA francs, issued for Chad.Currency coins of the Central African CFA franc.
ISO 4217
CodeXAF
Number950
Exponent0
Denominations
Subunit
 1/100centime
SymbolFCFA
 centimec
Nicknamecéfa, franc
Banknotes500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000 francs
Coins1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 100, 500 francs
Demographics
User(s) Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Republic of the Congo
Equatorial Guinea
Gabon
Issuance
Central bankBank of Central African States
 Websitewww.beac.int
Valuation
Pegged with1 euro = CFA 655.957
Usage of:
     West African CFA franc
     Central African CFA franc

CFA stands for Coopération financière en Afrique centrale ("Financial Cooperation in Central Africa"). It is issued by the BEAC (Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale, "Bank of the Central African States"), located in Yaoundé, Cameroon, for the members of the CEMAC (Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l'Afrique Centrale, "Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa"). The franc is nominally subdivided into 100 centimes but no centime denominations have been issued.

In several west African states, the West African CFA franc, which is of equal value to the Central African CFA franc, is in circulation.

History
Main article: CFA franc

The CFA franc was introduced to the French colonies in Equatorial Africa in 1945, replacing the French Equatorial African franc. The Equatorial African colonies and territories using the CFA franc were Chad, French Cameroun, French Congo, Gabon and Ubangi-Shari.

The currency remained in use when these colonies gained their independence. Equatorial Guinea, the only former Spanish colony in the zone, adopted the CFA franc in 1984, replacing the Equatorial Guinean ekwele at a rate of 1 franc = 4 bipkwele.

Criticism

According to the BBC, "critics, such as those leading the anti-CFA movement, say true economic development for the 14 African countries can only be achieved if they get rid of the currency. They argue that in exchange for the guarantees provided by the French treasury, African countries channel more money to France than they receive in aid. They also argue that they have no say in deciding key monetary policies agreed to by European countries, which are members of the Eurozone."[3]

Coins

In 1948, coins were issued for use in all the colonies (not including French Cameroun) in denominations of 1 and 2 francs. This was the last issue of a 2 franc coin for nearly 50 years. In 1958, 5, 10, and 25 franc coins were added, which were also used in French Cameroun. These bore the name Cameroun in addition to États de l'Afrique Equatoriale. In 1961, nickel 50-franc coins were introduced, followed by nickel 100-franc pieces in 1966.

From 1971, the 100 franc coins were issued for each of the individual member states, depicting the state name in which they were issued. 50 franc coins were also issued in this manner between 1976 and 1996, after being reduced in size. However instead of depicting the state name each was given an identification letter on the top reverse. 50 franc coins with the letter "A" were issued for Chad, "B" for Central African Republic, "C" for Congo, "D" for Gabon, and "E" for Cameroon. In 1976, cupro-nickel 500-franc coins were introduced. From 1985, these were also issued by the individual states. That year also saw the introduction of 5, 25, 50 and 100 franc coins for use in Equatorial Guinea, which had recently joined the monetary union, depicting all titles and information in Spanish instead of the usual French, most notably the denomination as "franco" instead of "franc". Despite titular differences in some of the coinage, all were legal and exchangeable tender in all member nations.

In 1996, centralized production of the 100-franc coin was resumed, with a single 500-franc coin reintroduced in 1998. Despite dropping state names and code letters, the overall design of the coins remained relatively unchanged.

2006 saw a redesign of all denominations of coins for the CFA franc, along with the introduction of a 2 franc piece. The 1, 5, 10, and 25 franc coins were reduced in size, while a new bi-metallic 100 franc coin was introduced, along with a new and reduced size 500 franc coin with heightened security features, including laser marking. All newer coins depict the acronym "CEMAC" for "Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l'Afrique Centrale". Older sized coins continue to remain legal tender alongside the newly configured coins.

All CFA coins depict both a mint mark, along with an engraver's privy mark. The mint mark is located on the reverse on the left side of the denomination while the engraver's mark is located on the right.

Banknotes

When the CFA franc was introduced, notes issued by the Caisse Centrale de la France d'Outre-Mer ("Central Cashier of Overseas France") in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 100 and 1000 francs were in circulation. In 1947, a new series of notes was introduced for use in French Equatorial Africa, although the notes did not bear the name of the colonies. Notes were issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1000 francs, followed by those of 500 francs in 1949, and 5000 francs in 1952. In 1957, the Institut d'Emission de l'Afrique Equatoriale Française et du Cameroun took over paper money production, issuing all of the earlier denominations except for the 5000-franc bill.

In 1961, the Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique Equatoriale et du Cameroun took over banknote production, with notes below 100 francs ceasing to be issued. The name of the bank changed to Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique Equatoriale in 1963. 10,000-franc notes were introduced in 1968, whilst the 100-franc notes were replaced by coins in 1971.

In 1975, the bank name changed again to the Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale and the individual states began issuing notes in their own names, in denominations of 500, 1000, 5000 and 10,000 francs. This practice ended in 1993. Since then, the banknotes have been issued with only a letter prominently displayed to distinguish between the issues of the different states. 2000 franc notes were introduced in 1993. The country letter codes are as follows:

1994 series:

  • C - Congo
  • E - Cameroon
  • F - Central African Republic
  • L - Gabon
  • N - Equatorial Guinea
  • P - Chad

2002 series:

  • A - Gabon
  • C - Chad
  • F - Equatorial Guinea
  • M - Central African Republic
  • T - Congo
  • U - Cameroon[4]
Banknotes of the Central African CFA franc
ImageValueObverseReverseRemark
[5] 500 francs Zebus; man Antelope C (Republic of the Congo; 1993-2002 issue); E (Cameroon; 1993-2002 issue); F (Central African Republic; 1993-2000 issue); L (Gabon; 1993-2002 issue); N (Equatorial Guinea; 1993-2000 issue); P (Chad; 1993-2000 issue)
[6] 500 francs Classroom scene Woman; huts T (Republic of the Congo; 2002 issue); U (Cameroon; 2002 issue); M (Central African Republic; 2002 issue); A (Gabon; 2002 issue); F (Equatorial Guinea; 2002 issue); C (Chad; 2002 issue)
[7] 1000 francs Coffee harvest; man Raft C (Republic of the Congo; 1993-2002 issue); E (Cameroon; 1993-2002 issue); F (Central African Republic; 1993-2000 issue); L (Gabon; 1993-2002 issue); N (Equatorial Guinea; 1993-2000 issue); P (Chad; 1993-2000 issue)
[8] 1000 francs Logging; man Fieldwork T (Republic of the Congo; 2002 issue); U (Cameroon; 2002 issue); M (Central African Republic; 2002 issue); A (Gabon; 2002 issue); F (Equatorial Guinea; 2002 issue); C (Chad; 2002 issue)
[9] 2000 francs Tropical fruit; woman Harbor scene C (Republic of the Congo; 1993-2002 issue); E (Cameroon; 1993-2002 issue); F (Central African Republic; 1994-2002 issue); L (Gabon; 1993-2002 issue); N (Equatorial Guinea; 1993-2000 issue); P (Chad; 1993-2000 issue)
[10] 2000 francs Hydroelectric dam; girl Mining scene T (Republic of the Congo; 2002 issue); U (Cameroon; 2002 issue); M (Central African Republic; 2002 issue); A (Gabon; 2002 issue); F (Equatorial Guinea; 2002 issue); C (Chad; 2002 issue)
[11] 5000 francs Oil rig workers Cotton harvest C (Republic of the Congo; 1994-2000 issue); E (Cameroon; 1994-2002 issue); F (Central African Republic; 1994-1999 issue); L (Gabon; 1994-2000 issue); N (Equatorial Guinea; 1994-2000 issue); P (Chad; 1994-2000 issue)
[12] 5000 francs Port; man Oil pumping station T (Republic of the Congo; 2002 issue); U (Cameroon; 2002 issue); M (Central African Republic; 2002 issue); A (Gabon; 2002 issue); F (Equatorial Guinea; 2002 issue); C (Chad; 2002 issue)
[13] 10,000 francs Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale (Bank of the Central African States) building (Yaoundé, Cameroun), woman Fishery C (Republic of the Congo; 1994-2002 issue); E (Cameroon; 1994-2002 issue); F (Central African Republic; 1994-2000 issue); L (Gabon; 1994-2002 issue); N (Equatorial Guinea; 1994-2000 issue); P (Chad; 1994-2000 issue)
[14] 10,000 francs Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale building (Bank of the Central African States) (Yaoundé, Cameroun), woman Transport and communication T (Republic of the Congo; 2002 issue); U (Cameroon; 2002 issue); M (Central African Republic; 2002 issue); A (Gabon; 2002); F (Equatorial Guinea; 2002 issue); C (Chad; 2002 issue)
Current XAF exchange rates
From Google Finance: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From Yahoo! Finance: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From XE.com: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From OANDA: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From fxtop.com: AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
gollark: osmarkslisp™.
gollark: Go interpolate using FFTs.
gollark: We could use Lua. Lua is very easy to sandbox.
gollark: Why did states happen in the *first* place if they aren't good and there's a stable alternative?
gollark: > Collectivization will take place naturally as soon as state coercion is over, the workers themselveswill own their workplaces as the capitalists will no longer have any control over them. This iswhat happened during the Spanish Revolution of 1936, during which workers and farmers seized andmanaged the means of production collectively. For those capitalists who had a good attitude towardsworkers before the revolution, there was also a place - they joined the horizontal labor collectivesUm. This seems optimistic.

See also

General:

References
  1. Population Reference Bureau. "2014 World Population Data Sheet" (PDF). Prb.org. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  2. World Bank. "Gross domestic product 2012" (PDF). Databank.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2013-10-01.
  3. "African protests over the CFA 'colonial currency'". BBC News. 30 August 2017.
  4. http://www.atsnotes.com/catalog/banknotes/central-african-states.html
  5. "P-101C". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  6. "P-106T". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  7. "P-202E". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  8. "P-207U". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  9. "P-203E". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  10. "P-208U". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  11. "P-204E". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  12. "P-209U". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  13. "P-205E". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  14. "P-210U". banknote.ws. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
Preceded by:
French Equatorial African franc		 Currency of French Equatorial Africa
(Chad, Ubangi-Shari, French Congo, Gabon, French Cameroun)
1945 – 1960		 Currency of Chad
1960 –		 Succeeded by:
Current
Currency of Central African Republic
1960 – 1965
Note: formerly Ubangi-Shari		 Currency of Central African Empire
1965 – 1979		 Currency of Central African Republic
1979 –
Currency of Republic of the Congo
1960 – 1970
Note: formerly French Congo		 Currency of People's Republic of the Congo
1970 – 1992		 Currency of Republic of the Congo
1992 –
Currency of Gabon
1960 –
Currency of Republic of Cameroon
1 January 1960 – 1 October 1961		 Currency of Federal Republic of Cameroon
1 October 1961 –
Preceded by:
British West African pound
Note: Southern Cameroons joins independent Cameroon
Preceded by:
Equatorial Guinean ekwele
Ratio: 1 CFA franc = 4 bipkwele		 Currency of Equatorial Guinea
1985 –
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