IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ris/actuec/v74y1998i3p561-581.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Les suites de la dévaluation du franc CFA de janvier 1994

Author

Listed:
  • Tandian, Dieynaba

    (C.R.D.I., Dakar, Sénégal)

Abstract

In the 60s and 70s the African countries of the franc zone enjoyed higher economic performance compared to their sub-Saharan neighbors. This changed in the 80s, following terms of trade deteriorations, which began in the late 80s, and the appreciation of the French franc after 1985. In the hope of redressing their economic decline, the zone members devalued their currency, the CFA franc, on January 12, 1994. The present study evaluates the short- to medium-term effects of this devaluation on the economies involved, with the results varying from country to country. Improvements in competitiveness began to deteriorate the year following the devaluation in all the countries except Burkina Faso and Mali. Net foreign assets also improved in all the countries except Niger, Togo, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Moreover, the devaluation had a positive effect on intra-zone trade. In general, the member countries would benefit from better fiscal and monetary discipline in order to ensure that the devaluation is a success. Durant les années soixante et soixante-dix, les pays africains de la zone franc jouissaient d’une meilleure performance économique comparativement à leurs voisins du sud du Sahara. Cette situation a changé dans les années quatre-vingt, suite à la détérioration des termes de l’échange qui a débuté à la fin de ces années et à l’appréciation du franc français après 1985. Dans l’espoir de redresser ce déclin économique, les pays africains de la zone franc ont donc décidé de dévaluer leur monnaie, le franc CFA, le 12 janvier 1994. Cette étude évalue les effets à court et à moyen termes de cette dévaluation sur leur économie. Les résultats varient selon les pays. L’amélioration de la compétitivité s’est rapidement détériorée l’année suivant la dévaluation dans tous les pays sauf le Burkina Faso et le Mali. Les avoirs extérieurs nets se sont aussi améliorés dans tous les pays sauf au Niger, au Togo, au Cameroun et en Guinée équatoriale. De plus, la dévaluation a eu un effet positif sur le commerce entre les différents membres de la zone. Dans l’ensemble, les pays de la zone franc gagneraient à suivre une meilleure discipline monétaire et budgétaire s’ils veulent s’assurer du succès de la dévaluation.

Suggested Citation

  • Tandian, Dieynaba, 1998. "Les suites de la dévaluation du franc CFA de janvier 1994," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 74(3), pages 561-581, septembre.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:actuec:v:74:y:1998:i:3:p:561-581
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/602274ar
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mr. Stéphane Cossé & Mr. Johannes Mueller & Mr. Jean Le Dem & Mr. Jean A. P. Clément, 1996. "Aftermath of the CFA Franc Devaluation," IMF Occasional Papers 1996/004, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Devarajan, Shantayanan & de Melo, Jaime, 1990. "Membership in the CFA zone : Odyssean journey or Trojan horse?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 482, The World Bank.
    3. Devarajan, Shantayanan, 1997. "Real Exchange Rate Misalignment in the CFA Zone," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 6(1), pages 35-53, March.
    4. Stasavage, David, 1997. "The CFA Franc Zone and Fiscal Discipline," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 6(1), pages 132-167, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mr. Hazel Selvon & Ms. Tracy Polius & Mr. Oral Williams, 2001. "Reserve Pooling in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union and the CFA Franc Zone: A Comparative Analysis," IMF Working Papers 2001/104, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Kuikeu, Oscar, 2011. "Comment la dernière crise financière a relancé le débat relatif à l'arrimage du fcfa à l'euro [How the recent financial crisis have revived the debate on the parity between fcfa and euro]," MPRA Paper 32077, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. DJAHINI, Edém, 2015. "Les principaux déterminants de la compétitivité internationale en Afrique Sub-saharienne [The main determinants of international competitiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa]," MPRA Paper 65024, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Jun 2015.
    4. Edgardo M. Favaro, 2011. "Using Regional Institutions to Improve the Quality of Public Services," World Bank Publications - Reports 9249, The World Bank Group.
    5. Kuikeu, Oscar, 2011. "Arguments contre la zone franc [Against the cfa franc zone]," MPRA Paper 33710, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Carsten Hefeker, 2010. "Fiscal reform and monetary union in West Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 86-102.
    7. Breedon, Francis, 2018. "On the transactions costs of UK quantitative easing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 347-356.
    8. Yasser Abdih & Charalambos Tsangarides, 2010. "FEER for the CFA franc," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(16), pages 2009-2029.
    9. David Fielding & Kevin Lee & Kalvinder Shields, 2004. "The Characteristics of Macroeconomic Shocks in the CFA Franc Zone," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 13(4), pages 488-517, December.
    10. Anja Shortland & David Stasavage, 2004. "What Determines Monetary Policy in the Franc Zone? Estimating a Reaction Function for the BCEAO," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 13(4), pages 518-535, December.
    11. Chantal Dupasquier & Patrick N. Osakwe & Shandre M. Thangavelu, 2005. "Choice of Monetary and Exchange Regimes in ECOWAS : An Optimum Currency Area Analysis," Macroeconomics Working Papers 22570, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    12. Fielding, David & Shields, Kalvinder, 2001. "Modelling macroeconomic shocks in the CFA Franc Zone," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 199-223, October.
    13. Jean-Louis COMBES & Patrick PLANE & Tidiane KINDA & Rasmané OUEDRAOGO, 2017. "Does It Pour When it Rains? Capital Flows and Economic Growth in Developing Countries," Working Papers P157, FERDI.
    14. Kohnert, Dirk, 2005. "African Monetary Unions - Dominated by the North? On the Relevance of Rational Economic Reasoning Under African Conditions," MPRA Paper 82083, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Riccardo Faini & Bernard Gauthier, 2006. "The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Enterprises in Small Backward Economies: the Case of Chad and Gabon," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(3), pages 452-465, August.
    16. Martha A. Starr, 2006. "One World, One Currency: Exploring The Issues," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 24(4), pages 618-633, October.
    17. Howard J. Shatz & David G. Tarr, 2017. "Exchange Rate Overvaluation and Trade Protection: Lessons from Experience," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Trade Policies for Development and Transition, chapter 5, pages 115-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Bouoiyour, jamal & Kuikeu, Oscar, 2007. "Pertinence de la dévaluation du Franc CFA de janvier 1994 : Une évaluation par le taux de change réel d’équilibre. Cas de l’économie camerounaise [Relevance of the CFA France devaluation in January," MPRA Paper 31357, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Couharde, Cécile & Coulibaly, Issiaka & Guerreiro, David & Mignon, Valérie, 2013. "Revisiting the theory of optimum currency areas: Is the CFA franc zone sustainable?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PB), pages 428-441.
    20. Blaise Gnimassoun, 2017. "Exchange rate misalignments and the external balance under a pegged currency system," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 949-974, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:actuec:v:74:y:1998:i:3:p:561-581. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Benoit Dostie The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Benoit Dostie to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/scseeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.