CFA franc parity was frozen at 50 per French franc from 1958 to 1994

Evidence

The CFA franc’s exchange rate regime is the first handicap. According to the economist Jeffrey Frankel ‘no single currency regime is right for all countries or at all times’. The inflexibility of the CFA franc – its famous ‘stability’ – is undoubtedly the most eloquent illustration of this simple truth. Since 1948, its parity with respect to its anchor currencies (first the French franc, today the euro) has been changed only once, during the 1994 devaluation. This classifies the CFA franc as a ‘truly fixed’ exchange rate regime, in the words of Jeffrey Frankel, that is, a very restrictive exchange rate regime in which the parity vis-à-vis the anchor currency is, in fact, fixed and not adjustable. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 294 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The 1994 devaluation tripled French financial advantages while shifting blame to the IMF.; Two CFA francs serve 162 million people across 15 states under one franc zone; The CFA franc’s parity was set without regard for local economic realities (+2 more)

Related

• CFA franc parity changed only once since 1948 (similarity 0.97)
• The CFA franc’s parity was set without regard for local economic realities (similarity 0.92)
• Devaluation and revaluation simply shift the fixed CFA-euro parity (similarity 0.88)
• CFA franc value is set politically, insulated from market economic conditions (similarity 0.88)
• The CFA franc was deliberately overvalued against the metropolitan franc. (similarity 0.87)
• The CFA franc’s fixed peg forced colonies to absorb French devaluations helplessly (similarity 0.87)
• The devaluation doubled France’s financial capacity in CFA francs overnight. (similarity 0.87)
• Paris imposed a currency overvalued against the metropolitan franc without economic justification. (similarity 0.87)
• CFA ‘stability’ masks currency fluctuation against dollar and pound (similarity 0.87)
• The 1994 devaluation capped decades of Paris refusing to adjust the overvalued CFA franc (similarity 0.86)
• France introduced the CFA franc to several African colonies in 1945 (similarity 0.86)
• France’s own anti-inflation policies against the mark caused the CFA overvaluation that forced crisis. (similarity 0.85)
• The CFA franc originated in 1945 as a Françafrique control tool. (similarity 0.85)
• The 1994 devaluation tripled French financial advantages while shifting blame to the IMF. (similarity 0.85)
• The CFA franc is the central weapon of Françafrique’s neocolonial domination (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• CFA franc parity changed only once since 1948 #expands (0.85) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 294
• The CFA franc’s fixed peg forced colonies to absorb French devaluations helplessly #complicates (0.40)