There are actually two separate CFA francs in circulation. The first CFA is that of the UEMOA (the West African Economic and Monetary Union) and the second is that of the CEMAC (the Central African Economic and Monetary Community).

In West Africa, Ivory Coast shares the CFA currency with seven other Francophone countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

Originally, this currency was pegged at 100 CFA for each French franc. After France joined the Euro Zone at a fixed rate of 6.65957 French francs to one Euro, the CFA rate to the Euro was fixed at CFA 665,957 to each Euro, maintaining the 100 to 1 ratio.

The CFA currency (in West and Central Africa) is pegged for stability on the Euro and it is the French Treasury’s responsibility to guarantee the convertibility of the CFA to the Euro and to regulate the complicated monetary policy governing the monetary transactions between the treasuries of its ex-colonies.

The bone of contention

The issue of the dumping of the CFA came up following the decision by the BCEAO, the Central Bank of the West African States and the UEMOA, to block the Gbabgo government from accessing Ivorian state funds.

The regional financial institutions say only appointed members of Ivory Coast's "legitimate government could access the country's deposits and represent it within the UEMOA”. The council of ministers of UEMOA instructed the central bank and all regional banks "to take all security measures to ensure the rigorous application of these measures".

These restrictions have made it difficult for Gbagbo to pay the military and civil servants in December 2010, and have increased pressure on him to relinquish power, but the beleaguered President has shown no sign of stepping down.

Gbagbo has painted the international condemnation of his decision to stay on in power and restrictions on Ivorian state funds as a plot by former colonial power France to oust him from power. Many followers of the Ivory Coast’s strongman have urged him to dump the CFA.

Fervent advocates of the MIR

“[...] I urge all Ivorian monetarists to commit themselves to the creation and to the circulation of the MIR, the new national currency, for Ivorian sovereignty”, said Blé Goudé during a rally in Yopougon District last Saturday.

The MIR is the French acronym of the Ivorian Currency of Resistance. The creation of the MIR made the headlines of Fraternité Matin, the state-owned daily and L’Inter, a private newspaper last week. Both newspapers printed specimen of the MIR which was already circulating on the Internet.

Mamadou Koulibaly, the president of the Ivorian Parliament and member of Gbagbo’s political party is the first fervent advocate of an Ivorian currency. He is a brilliant economist who previously held the Chair in Economics at Abidjan-Cocody University in the capital city of Ivory Coast.

Mamadou published many books to support his opinion of the emergence of an Ivorian currency, and a free Ivory Coast and free Africa, among are La souveraineté monétaire des pays africains and Le Libéralisme Nouveau départ Pour l'Afrique Noire, published respectively in 2009 and 1992.

On Sunday, Saraka Kouamé Michel and other Abidjan-based economists were the guests of a program on RTI, the state broadcaster, where they argued how “useful” it was for Ivory Coast to dump the CFA franc and to leave the Francophone monetary bloc.

“West African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone have their own currency and some of the currencies are stronger than the CFA franc [...] let’s create own currency to free our country definitely”, said Saraka Michel, visibly impatient to dump the
CFA.

These economists and some of Gbagbo diehard supporters said there is a short-term option of one year for the currency to be available.

Risk of moving from CFA zone

But, some high profile financial analysts in the Ivorian capital said the creation of the MIR and the dumping of the CFA is really risky for the war-torn country and the West African CFA monetary zone, whose seven other members use the CFA franc.

‘We can’t rely on mere cocoa or coffee exportation to mint coin. We need a more stable resource to create our own currency as the currency’s power is less dependent on political decision […] Isolation should not drive us to create a national currency […] It will be a fiasco, I can assure. ” said an Abidjan-based economist who wanted to stay anonymous.