International Law and Monetary Sovereignty: The Current Problems of the International Trusteeship of the Cfa Franc and the Crisis of Sovereign Equality.

Abstract

The CFA franc and the Comorian franc are colonial francs which derive from the split, made by the monetary reform of 26 December 1945, between the metropolitan franc and the currencies used in the French colonies. As far as the CFA franc is concerned, its history is fundamentally marked by the spectre of devaluation, the spectre of countless attempts and the spectre of numerous implementations, which are a reminder that the CFA franc carries a congenital infirmity: its birth coincides with the devaluation of the metropolitan franc. The CFA franc and the Comorian franc are the two currencies of the franc zone, a group of fifteen countries that depend on three central banks: the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), the Central Bank of Central African States (BEAC) and the Central Bank of the Comoros (BCC). It should be specified that the monetary unit designated by the CFA franc is different depending on whether the countries are in Central or West Africa. Originally called the franc of the French colonies in Africa, the CFA franc became in 1958 the franc of the African Financial Community in West Africa, within the framework of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU), acting within the limits of the objectives of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU); and in parallel, the franc of the African Financial Cooperation in Central Africa, within the framework of the Central African Monetary Union (CAMU), acting within the limits of the objectives of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

Keywords: CFA Franc, Currency, Coins, Sovereign Equality, International Law, Monetary Sovereignty