January 11, 1994 is a historic day for countries that use the currency of the former French colonies. Today at 8:50 p.m., the CFA franc lost half of its value.
Twenty-seven years ago, the Heads of State and Government of the WAMU and BEAC zone agreed to change the parity of the CFA franc, which now stands at 100 CFA francs to FF 1, as of 12 January 1994 at 00:00. The currency of the former French colonies thus lost half of its value. On 11 January 1994, Antoine Ntsimi, Cameroonian Minister of Finance, read the declaration of the Heads of State in Dakar after their meeting held by a presidential closed session.
After suspending the exchange of CFA franc notes on 2 August 1993, Édouard Balladur halved the value of the CFA franc. The result has been an immediate decline in the purchasing power of African city dwellers, accustomed to consuming imported products, but also a very strong revival of local production.