Archiv: Guinea-Bissau


31.08.2023 - 18:39 [ Internationaler Währungsfonds / International Monetary Fund ]

What is the CFA franc zone?

The CFA franc zone consists of 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, each affiliated with one of two monetary unions. Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo comprise the West African Economic and Monetary Union, or WAEMU, founded in 1994 to build on the foundation of the West African Monetary Union, founded in 1973. The remaining six countries — Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon — comprise the Central African Economic and Monetary Union, or CAEMC.

These two unions maintain the same currency, the CFA franc, which stands for Communauté Financière Africaine (African Financial Community) within WAEMU and Coopération Financière en Afrique Centrale (Financial Cooperation in Central Africa) within CAEMC. WAEMU and CAEMC account for 14 percent of Africa’s population and 12 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

08.08.2023 - 10:56 [ Euronews.com ]

ECOWAS to meet Thursday after Niger’s junta defies key deadline and shuts airspace

Mali said it and Burkina Faso, both neighbours of Niger run by military juntas, were sending delegations to Niger to show support. Both countries have said they would consider any intervention in Niger as a declaration of war against them.

08.08.2023 - 10:54 [ Arizona Public Radio ]

Coup leaders close Niger‘s airspace and accuse neighbors of planning an invasion

I might also say that the – you know, the threats of other countries supporting the coup leaders – those are even more risible than the threat of invasion.

INSKEEP: Oh, meaning that other countries aren‘t – they don‘t have very many resources to make much of a difference even if they do want to support.

PHAM: Well, no. I mean, yes, definitely. For example, Burkina Faso, which has been very vocal, it‘s gone through two coups in recent years – very vocal in its support of the junta in Niger.

08.08.2023 - 10:22 [ Newsweek ]

Africa War Fears Grow As Niger Prepares Troops for Ecowas Invasion

(07.08.2023)

A military source told CNN that Niger‘s armed forces brought in a convoy of about 40 pick-up trucks from other parts of the country on Sunday evening.

The U.S. has evacuated some staff from its embassy in the capital in Niamey, while the estimated 1,000 American troops stationed in the country were restricted to their bases.

01.06.2019 - 06:22 [ Wikipedia ]

CFA franc

The currency has been criticized for making economic planning for the developing countries of French West Africa all but impossible since the CFA‘s value is pegged to the euro (whose monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank).[3] Others disagree and argue that the CFA „helps stabilize the national currencies of Franc Zone member-countries and greatly facilitates the flow of exports and imports between France and the member-countries“.[4] The European Union‘s own assessment of the CFA‘s link to the euro, carried out in 2008, noted that „benefits from economic integration within each of the two monetary unions of the CFA franc zone, and even more so between them, remained remarkably low“ but that „the peg to the French franc and, since 1999, to the euro as exchange rate anchor is usually found to have had favourable effects in the region in terms of macroeconomic stability“

01.06.2019 - 06:20 [ Spiked ]

French colonialism lives on in Africa

CFA franc. These two words probably do not mean much to most readers, but they encapsulate one of the world’s most enduring – and little-known – economic experiments. In the simplest possible terms, the CFA franc is a currency used by 14 countries of Western and Central Africa, all of which are former French colonies.