Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are considering ditching CFA franc
Burkina Faso’s military leader Ibrahim Traore has hinted that the West African country could ditch the Region’s CFA Franc currency, following the joint announcement between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger last month that they were leaving the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS).
“It’s not just the currency. Anything that maintains us in slavery, we’ll break those bonds,” the 35-year-old army captain said in an interview posted on YouTube.
The head of the Niger’s junta, Abdourahamane Tiani, also echoed the same views during an interview on state television on Sunday, saying that abandoning the CFA Frank would be a sign of sovereignty and a necessary step and move from what he described as French colonisation.
Having already kicked out French soldiers and rolled back a U.N. mission in Mali, these states have consistently shown they value sovereignty over expediency.
“Money is a sign of sovereignty, and we are engaged in a process of recovering our total sovereignty. It is no longer a question of our states being the cash cow of France. France has robbed us of more than 107 years. We must work together to find the mechanisms that allow us to strengthen exchanges within our alliance,” Tiani said.
Economic experts have warned that dumping the CFA Frank would be riskier and significantly more complicated than pulling out from ECOWAS, a move seen as a bold and potentially ill-advised act.
Despite these concerns, finance ministers from the three countries are contemplating establishing a monetary union to help navigate the complexities of this potential shift.
