Fifty Years of West African Monetary Union: What Have We Learned?

On the fiftieth anniversary of the West African Monetary Union, it is timely to make an assessment of the efficiency of the common monetary policy, implemented by the West African States Central Bank (BCEAO) responsible for the management of CFA franc.

Deep analysis shows that initial goals – economic growth and more generally, contracyclicity of economic policies – were sacrificed to the fight of inflation which is difficult to curb because of its non-monetary origin within the WAMU area. Finally, and in consideration of the multiple economic development challenges, it would be useful to improve Monetary Policy monitoring in the Zone Franc, towards a more flexible FCFA/Euro parity and an economic government based on fiscal solidarity.