Paris devalued the French franc unilaterally without consulting African states

Evidence

On 31 July, Felix Houphouët-Boigny, Omar Bongo, Blaise Compaoré and Abdou Diouf rushed to the Élysée. They asked François Mitterrand to intervene to prevent the devaluation. Their French host reassured them… when in fact the decision to devalue had already been taken! This is what the former minister Michel Roussin states in his memoirs: ‘In July 1992, the first attempt [at devaluation] failed dramatically. However, the dossier was technically mature, the entourage of the Minister of Cooperation at the time, Marcel Debarge, was favourable, as was that of President Mitterrand. But there was no preliminary consultation with the African leaders.’ Treasury officials worked for several months ‘in great secrecy on various post-devaluation scenarios’, according to the journalists Antoine Glaser and Stephen Smith. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 209 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The institutional architecture of the two monetary unions is headed by a Conference of the Heads of State and Government and a Council of Ministers. The former meets annually to decide, among other things, on the monetary union’s membership. In the case of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU), it deliberates on matters that did not find a consensus in the Council of Ministers. The latter, which meets at least twice a year, decides the ‘direction of the monetary union’ and ‘defines the exchange rate policy of the WAMU in agreement with the governor of the BCEAO’. However, the powers of these bodies are often purely honorary: it is the French state, as guarantor of the CFA’s convertibility, that has the last word. For example, for several years Paris blocked Mali’s reintegration into the WAMU, which took place only in 1984, even though Mali had submitted the request in 1967. Similarly, Guinea-Bissau was not allowed to join the WAMU until 1997, after having been refused entry by the French authorities for more than ten years. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 201 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Unlike all the other colonial powers, however, France managed an incredible feat: to maintain its monetary empire built around the CFA franc even after the African countries officially gained their independence. This is why today people talk of the CFA franc as a ‘colonial relic’, a ‘vestige of colonialism’ or, more simply, as a ‘neocolonial currency’. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 52 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: CFA francs are non-convertible among the three African franc-zone sub-units; France’s guarantee is backed by pooled African reserves and French central bank seats; Financing local food production would save rather than deplete African foreign reserves (+12 more)

Related

• France takes unilateral devaluation decisions affecting the CFA without informing African states in advance. (similarity 0.91)
• African states bore French franc devaluations without being consulted, violating the monetary agreements. (similarity 0.90)
• France granted African states nominal monetary rights while denying them in practice (similarity 0.88)
• Mitterrand privately reassured African leaders against a devaluation already decided. (similarity 0.88)
• African leaders and researchers were sidelined while France and allied presidents dictated policy (similarity 0.87)
• France alone decides which African states may join the monetary union (similarity 0.87)
• France had already decided to devalue while reassuring African leaders it would not (similarity 0.86)
• Paris fabricated devaluation rumors to force African states into accepting IMF programmes. (similarity 0.85)
• France’s guarantee is backed by pooled African reserves and French central bank seats (similarity 0.85)
• CFA francs are non-convertible among the three African franc-zone sub-units (similarity 0.84)
• France alone preserved its monetary empire after its African colonies gained independence (similarity 0.84)
• France blocks AfDB support to pressure African states toward IMF programs (similarity 0.84)
• African criticism did not alter no French control of the CFA system. (similarity 0.84)
• The 1972-1973 reform only cosmetically Africanised the franc zone while keeping French veto power (similarity 0.84)
• No franc-zone state dared request monetary independence, leaving France’s influence intact (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• France had already decided to devalue while reassuring African leaders it would not #corroborates (0.70) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 209
• France alone preserved its monetary empire after its African colonies gained independence #expands (0.60) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 52
• France alone decides which African states may join the monetary union #corroborates (0.60) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 201
• Paris imposed a currency overvalued against the metropolitan franc without economic justification. #qualifies (0.50) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 76
• No franc-zone state dared request monetary independence, leaving France’s influence intact #expands (0.50) — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 184