Credit:  Chesnot/Getty Images /   French President Emmanuel Macron (R) welcomes Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara prior to their meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace on November 12, 2018 in Paris, France.

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara declaration that the common currency, the French CFA, “is solid, appreciated and well managed”  left many poor citizens of west and central Africa who use the money in a state of shock.  Ouattara was in France’s capital Paris last Friday meeting French President Emmanuel Macron.  Following an interview with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, the Ivory Coast leader  declared, in response to the controversy over the common currency in the franc zone, that the Franc CFA is on solid ground financially and is stabilizing for the economies concerned, according to gouv.ci.  

“Addressing the recent statements on the CFA franc, the Head of State said that this debate was not necessary to the extent that this currency is solid, appreciated and well managed. It is stabilizing for our economies, for our countries and for our populations,”

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara

According to the Ivory Coast’s official government website,  during the meeting, the Ivorian and French Presidents discussed their bilateral relations, the important progress recorded in the implementation of the construction of the Abidjan metro and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Academy. They also discussed the decisions taken at the last African Union Summit, the financing of the institution and the choice of Côte d’Ivoire to monitor the implementation of Agenda 2063.

Is The CFA  Franc  Africa’s Colonial Currency?

Credit: wikepedia / Africa CFA Franc.

But, it was President Ouattara’s bold statement of unshakable faith in the controversial Franc CFA currency and his calling for an end to the debate surrounding the currency,  that most certainly echoed loud back home all across Ivory Coast and throughout the other CFA zone countries.   The CFA franc is the  common currency of a total of 14 countries in West and Central Africa. So while Ouattara was hanging  out with his chum Macron in Paris extolling the virtues of franc CFA,  critics say the  currency is a remnant of the French colonial era and an affront to the sovereignty of African states. They say the currency system does not benefit ordinary citizens, and is only favored by the African elite. Critics further say the  requirement of the West and  Central African  countries to use a common currency (the CFA Franc) that is controlled directly from the French central bank in Paris amounts to  modern day Colonialism. The currency was pegged to the Franc, and in 2002 with the introduction of the Euro, it was tied to the  latter.  Countries that use CFA are required to deposit more than 50 percent of foreign reserves in the French central bank. If Ivory Coast sells millions of euros worth of cocoa to France, it can’t access the money, before it goes into a French bank, which will in turn will distribute any monies above 20 percent of the 50 percent deposited, in the form of a loan to Ivory Coast at high market rate interest. Critics say this arrangement greatly benefits the French banks at the  expense of Ivory Coast.

Luigi Di Maio, Italian deputy prime minister and leader of the populist Five Star Movement, has blamed France for impoverishing Africa and encouraging migration to Europe. 

Di Maio accused the French government of manipulating the economies of mainly former French colonies in Africa, which use a form of the pre-independence currency known as a CFA franc,  the BBC reports. 

“France is one of those countries that by printing money for 14 African states prevents their economic development and contributes to the fact that the refugees leave and then die in the sea or arrive on our coasts,” said Mr Di Maio.

France Recalls Ambassador To Italy In Retaliation For Italian Leaders’ “Lack Of Respect”  Over Colonial Comments

France recalled its Ambassador in Rome on February 7 for what it characterized as “repeated attacks, accusations” from Italy’s political leaders. 

“For several months now, France has – as everyone knows or may be aware of – been the target of repeated accusations, baseless attacks and outrageous remarks. These attacks are unprecedented since the end of World War II.    In light of this unprecedented situation, the French government has decided to recall the ambassador of France to Italy for consultations.”

France Foreign Ministry statement, Feb. 7, 2019.

Ivory Coast President Ouattara has a lot of explaining to do  regarding why he is supporting a currency that is said to be a legacy of French Colonialism and keeping Africans in a perpetual state of poverty. All the more so, as Italian political leaders accuse France of racism and  neo-Colonialism.  The is a bit rich coming  from Italy.  The Italians don’t love Africans any more than the French.  Allow me to throw in some personal flavor in all this. As an African American journalist, I travel often to Europe. I must say whenever I blow into Paris at Charles De Gaulle airport and go through customs, they smile, stamp my passport and say “Welcome To Paris.”    But when I arrived at Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport or  “Leonardo da Vinci” a few years ago, the Italian customs police pulled me aside and said menacing “Why you here in Italy?”  Then he  took me into a room filled with other dark-skinned individuals, searched all through my luggage, ordered me to take off my Nike Air Jordans, felt around the rubber soles, searching for something.  Not finding anything, he said I could leave. When I asked him directions to get to the train station,  the cop walked up to me close in my face as If he was ready to fight  me, and yelled “What?!”    Welcome to Italy, I said in my mind, and walked out of the customs room and found the train and headed into central Rome. Actually, I enjoyed Italy,  aside from the Airport experience.