France denied Mauritania Treasury guarantees to deter its currency exit, but failed.
Evidence
France’s position was clear: the country did not intend to go beyond a certain limit in the reform process. Paris therefore denied Mauritania the possibility of remaining tied to the franc zone by maintaining the guarantee of the French Treasury through an advance account. The goal of the French, who also decided not to provide any technical assistance to the country, was obviously to discourage the Mauritanian authorities from completing their project. It didn’t work: on 28 November, President Moktar Ould Daddah, regretting the lack of understanding and logic exhibited by the French government, announced the creation of a national currency. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 177
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: France’s convertibility guarantee was a fraud that would never actually materialize; France granted African states nominal monetary rights while denying them in practice
Related
- France’s convertibility guarantee was a fraud that would never actually materialize (similarity 0.86)
- France’s punitive treatment of Mauritania deterred Niger and Chad from leaving the franc zone. (similarity 0.82)
- France kept sole CFA responsibility by convincing EU partners the guarantee cost nothing (similarity 0.82)
- France has allocated zero euros to guarantee CFA franc convertibility (similarity 0.81)
- No franc zone state beyond Mauritania and Madagascar sought monetary independence. (similarity 0.81)
- France granted African states nominal monetary rights while denying them in practice (similarity 0.81)
- The French guarantee of the CFA franc was illusory since African reserves exceeded debts (similarity 0.81)
- No franc-zone state dared request monetary independence, leaving France’s influence intact (similarity 0.81)
- France’s convertibility guarantee enabled capital flight that depleted reserves and forced devaluation (similarity 0.80)
- The convertibility guarantee costs France under 1.3 percent of GDP (similarity 0.80)
- France argued its CFA convertibility agreements were budgetary, not monetary, to escape EU oversight (similarity 0.80)
- Paris punished Mauritania’s exit to deter other franc-zone states (similarity 0.80)
- African states have effectively paid the French Treasury to hold their reserves. (similarity 0.80)
- France sabotaged Mali’s currency plans through a rigged multilateral conference (similarity 0.79)
- France refuses advance accounts because they would reduce its control (similarity 0.79)