ABSTRACT

In light of proposed reforms to the West African Communauté Financiere Africaine (CFA) franc, as jointly announced by the French and Ivorian Presidents in December 2019, this article considers the changing economic and political backdrop of this post-colonial arrangement. It describes the factors that led to its creation and the elements that have enabled it to endure for over half a century, in contrast to non-Francophone Africa, where monetary links to the former colonial power were quickly severed after independence. It is argued that some of the benefits of the CFA arrangement have receded over time, while the arguments against it have not, both from an economic and a political perspective. Despite these reforms, there is considerable uncertainty and a lack of consensus over possible alternatives to the current CFA franc arrangement, and as a consequence the future monetary geography of West and Central Africa remains unclear.

摘要

鉴于对西非共同体非洲金融改革的拟议改革（CFA）法郎，由法国和科特迪瓦总统于2019年12月共同宣布，本文考虑了这一后殖民安排不断变化的经济和政治背景。它描述了导致其创建的因素以及使其得以持续半个多世纪的因素，与非法语国家的非洲相反，非洲与非殖民地国家的货币联系在独立后迅速被切断。有人认为，从经济和政治的角度来看，终审法院安排的某些好处随着时间的流逝而逐渐消退，而反对终审法院安排的论点却没有。尽管进行了这些改革，但对于当前非洲金融共同体法郎安排的可能替代方案仍然存在很大的不确定性和共识，