Eight West African countries change the name of the common currency to Echo
Reuters says eight West African countries have agreed to change the name of their common currency to Echo, and the former colonial ruler France has severed links with the former currency CFA France.
The CFA franc was first associated with the French franc and has been associated with the euro for almost two decades. Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo currently use the currency. All countries, except Guinea-Bissau, are former French colonies. The announcement was made on Saturday during a visit to French President Emmanuel Macron, Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer and France's former mainland colony in West Africa. Macron hailed it as a "historic reform" and added that in 2020, Echo will see the light of day. The deal took six months to complete. The CFA Frank, created in 1945, was seen by many as a sign of French intervention in its East African colonies, even after the country became independent.
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