Closing the operations account may not end the centralisation of reserves

Evidence

Despite the closure of the operations account, there is nothing a priori to prevent the BCEAO from using its foreign exchange reserves to buy French government debt securities. As we have seen, the BEAC, for example, has made a habit of investing the non-mandatory portion of its foreign exchange reserves in French Treasury debt securities. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 376

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s earlier chapters (1-3) describing the reserve centralisation principle and BEAC’s investment habits. — connects to: Reserve centralization persists indirectly even after the operations account closes; Reserve centralisation persists indirectly through purchases of French debt; African countries lost 250 billion CFA francs by depositing reserves in operations accounts (+1 more)

Related

• Reserve centralization persists indirectly even after the operations account closes (similarity 0.94)
• Reserve centralisation persists indirectly through purchases of French debt (similarity 0.90)
• Operations account balances reflect trade flows, not parked savings reserves (similarity 0.87)
• African central banks must deposit half their reserves at the French Treasury (similarity 0.82)
• The CFA system requires African central banks to deposit half their reserves with France. (similarity 0.81)
• African countries lost 250 billion CFA francs by depositing reserves in operations accounts (similarity 0.81)
• African central banks have periodically earned negative real returns on their French-held reserves (similarity 0.81)
• When franc zone accounts are in credit, the central banks finance the French Treasury (similarity 0.80)
• African governments receive almost no information about how their reserves are used (similarity 0.79)
• French Treasury supervision is the backbone of the CFA system’s operations (similarity 0.78)