By evoking in early November a withdrawal of CFA franc foreign exchange reserves deposited in France, Beninese President Patrice Talon relaunched the debate on a reform of this currency, a complicated project both economically and diplomatically.

For the time being, the 14 African states that use the CFA franc must deposit 50% of their reserves in France, obtaining in return unlimited convertibility with the euro. This gives them a certain facility for international trade, because if a State in the franc zone cannot ensure payment in foreign currency for its imports, France guarantees payment of the corresponding sums in euros.

"We all agree on this, unanimously, to put an end to this model", declared Patrice Talon in an interview broadcast on November 7 on RFI and France 24, assuring that it was above all a " psychological problem" and not "technical".

READ From Tunis to Cotonou, the CFA franc pushed towards the exit
This is not the opinion of Ruben Nizard, economist specializing in Africa at the insurer Coface, for whom "a withdrawal of foreign exchange reserves would mean a questioning of one of the pillars of operation of the franc zone" , and ultimately of this convertibility guarantee mechanism by the French Treasury.

A link to European monetary policies
For the time being, there is no a priori question of going back to the fixed parity of the currency with the euro (1 euro = 655.96 CFA francs). “The fixity of the parities reduces the exchange risk for investors or for exporters, it's a wonderful luxury” assures Ruben Nizard.

ABOVE ALL A POLITICAL AND SYMBOLIC ISSUE

“Replacing foreign exchange reserves is above all a political and symbolic question. Why not deposit these reserves with an African Central Bank? We are in the 21st century, Africa must assume the management of its Central Bank and its currency”, argues Noël Magloire Ndoba, Congolese economist, consultant and former dean of the Faculty of Economics of Brazzaville.

“The CFA franc has a fixed exchange rate with the euro, the currency of highly developed countries, which have set the fight against inflation as a priority for the European Central Bank. This forces our [African] central banks to conduct very restrictive monetary policies,” criticizes Demba Moussa Dembélé, Senegalese economist and director of the African Alternatives Forum.

For him “the priority of African economies is not the fight against inflation, but the need for investment and jobs”.

Little echo for this announcement without a calendar
So far, Patrice Talon's announcement, without a precise timetable, has had little political echo. In Côte d'Ivoire, the government declined to comment on this highly sensitive subject.

In France, the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno le Maire reaffirmed on Friday that it was not up to Bercy to "make proposals or impose anything". "If a majority of member states of the franc zone want to move towards an ambitious reform, we will answer yes", he simply declared.

“The debate around the CFA franc crystallizes a lot around the question of sovereignty, so if the reform came from France it would go wrong,” adds Ruben Nizard.

The future of the CFA franc is still written in dotted lines, since the fifteen ECOWAS countries agreed at the end of June to adopt the eco, the future single currency for the eight countries of the franc zone, and seven other countries, including Nigeria.