The devaluation deepened inequalities and collapsed urban purchasing power.

Evidence

In Togo, the devaluation caused a food shortage and an uncontrolled increase in prices that also extended to local goods. … In fact, the devaluation accelerated the decline in the real incomes of the populations, which had been ongoing since the 1970s. The purchasing power of households, particularly in urban areas, collapsed due to the explosion in the prices of imported consumer products (food, medicines, etc.). Instead of a redistribution of income from urban to rural areas, there was an increase in inequalities, corroborated by the increase in informal employment. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 216