XOF-XAF: The CFA franc, another French currency

The CFA franc is still used today in 14 African states and 3 French collectivities in the Pacific:

• 8 countries have common banknotes and use the specific code XOF: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo
• 6 countries have their own banknotes and use the specific code XAF: Cameroun, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, Chad and Gabon
• the 3 French collectivities: French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and New Caledonia use the code XPF.

The XOF and the XAF are on the same par.

The CFA franc was founded on December 26, 1945, the day when France ratified the Bretton Woods Accords to restore French monetary authority in these regions at the time. 1 French franc was worth 50 CFA francs at the time.

CFA stands for «Communauté Financière Africaine» (African Financial Community)

In 1958, the CFA franc became the «franc of the French Community of Africa». With the wave of independence, the CFA franc wavered for «ideological» reasons, but the listing of the French franc required the countries to keep the monetary system.

Nowadays for XOF countries, CFA stands for the franc of the «African Financial Community», but for XAF countries, it means «Financial Cooperation in Central Africa».