22 Communauté financière du Pacifique franc (CFP fr) 1 euro 119.2 CFP.

On the monetary front, the CFA Franc Zone s member countries dismantled the federal structure that united them during French occupation and erected trade barriers instead. The CFA franc issued by two sub regional central banks (BCEAO and BEAC) are not interchangeable.

I say this guy Alberto Giacometti, shown here with some of his sculptures on the Swiss 100 franc note.

It is time for franc zone leaders to break the cycle and chart effective national development strategies for their countries. They should begin by pursuing complete emancipation from France, abandoning the CFA franc, and building relations with China, and others, who want to pursue mutually beneficial trade and business with Africa.

And Cheval Blanc is kind of an unusual wine for Bordeaux in having a significant percentage of the Cabernet Franc grape.

But neither France s near total control of money and credit, nor its strong influence over politics and security, is wholly responsible for keeping the franc zone countries mired in poverty and instability. By misappropriating public funds for personal use, franc zone leaders serve as accomplices to France s institutionalized exploitation of CFA countries and citizens.

During the meeting held in Niamey on 8 April 2003 the Ministers of Finance and heads of the regional institutions of the CFA Franc Zone requested the committee on money laundering to continue to support the competent authorities of the CFA Franc Zone, particularly to facilitate the effective implementation of the legal frameworks adopted by member States.

Meanwhile, as discussed in paragraph 42 above, New Caledonia's currency, the Pacific franc, could be replaced by the euro within two years if all three French Pacific Territories concur.

The first is enjoyed by Western Union, which controls up to 90 of the total formal transfer volume within Africa s 16 member Franc Zone. Western Union charges fees as high as 25 on transfers to these countries, compared to an average global benchmark of 5 , and has required that Franc Zone countries sign exclusivity agreements, thereby preventing foreign exchange bureaux, post offices, and micro finance institutions from carrying out money transfers.

France's currency was the franc, and its symbol was . While it is no longer used in France, francs are still in use in some former French colonies such as Guinea.

Instead, Europe developed the euro, which solved the problem of speculative attacks and monetary credibility by replacing individual currencies with a new one. It was impossible to short the lira or the franc because there were no more lire or francs.

The net reduced requirements of 13.6 million for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda relate to exchange rate fluctuations in respect of the Tanzanian shilling ( 14.7 million), partially offset by additional requirements in respect of the Rwandan franc ( 1.1 million).

If the objectives were met fiscal stabilization and renewed growth the discount would disappear. In the same way, after 1993, the French franc initially diverged from its old level, but, in a good policy setting, it then returned within the exchange rate band.

In Mali, several suspected terrorists members of a local branch of Al Qaeda were set free in exchange for a lone French hostage. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade once labeled the CFA franc a colonial relic but that was when he was an opposition leader.

A combination of these factors will contribute to not only the continued negative economic growth projected for Côte d'Ivoire, but also increases the risk for a considerable negative impact on the subregion as a whole, should the value of the Communauté financière africaine franc decrease.

Currently, the Territory's currency is the Comptoirs Français du Pacifique franc (CFP), which has an exchange rate fixed to the euro.22 According to President Thémereau, a consensus among the Territory's major political forces is a prerequisite for any decision with regard to the introduction of the euro.

In this context, the decision to retain the CFA franc, a freely convertible common currency that is pegged to the euro at a significantly overvalued exchange rate, is dubious. The current scheme breeds structural fiscal deficits, excessive reliance on imports, endemic corruption, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, and massive capital flight.

The single currency was conceived as an answer to the upheavals of the postwar period double digit inflation, high unemployment, and speculative attacks on the pound, the lira, and the French franc. It was the crisis of the European Monetary System that drove the euro s launch on January 1, 1999.

And, while the eurozone may be in crisis, Poland, among others, still want to join in the near future. The British may turn their nose up at the euro to which even the supposedly independent Swiss franc is pegged but it will almost certainly remain the currency of nearly 300 million Europeans.

While GDP growth in the African Financial Community (CFA) largely outpaced the rest of Africa in the 1990 s, it has since stalled. Furthermore, the CFA has yet to establish a functional common external tariff, and intra franc zone trade stands at a mere 12 of its members total exports and imports.

Particularly damaging is the 17.7 billion in foreign exchange reserves that France keeps in a special Treasury account at an interest rate of only 1.5 , thereby guaranteeing the convertibility of the CFA franc, which it underwrites. In other words, France uses African reserves to finance part of its budget deficit at a concessional interest rate.

Côte d Ivoire, the franc zone s leading economy, was a net rice exporter in the early 1970 s, until the country s elite followed the advice of French expatriates to import rice rather than produce it. With the help of import licensing, then Finance Minister Konan Bédié earned his first billion CFA francs within a year.

But, as a big country, China would not have the vulnerabilities of smaller strong currencies (the Norwegian krone or the Swiss franc, for example). And, as a provider of a reserve currency, China would not need to continue its own quest for reserves, which has been a major contributing factor to global financial instability.

Today, the major beneficiaries in fact, victims of dollar doubts are economies that are much smaller than Japan or Germany. Nowadays, capital flows are driving up the Swiss franc, the Swedish and Norwegian krone, and the Canadian and Australian dollars, causing profound dislocations in these small economies as their products and services become uncompetitive.

In addition to corruption of all trade by the extorting presence of Commandant Jérôme and other Ituri armed group leaders, their overall destabilizing effect has depressed the value of the Congolese franc to the point where the currency will not be accepted as an instrument of payment outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Advisory Committee notes that, consistent with approved methodology, the average 2004 rates of exchange of the Swiss franc and the euro against the United States dollar, which allowed for the lowest estimates, were used in calculating the revised appropriation for 2005 for the first performance report for the biennium 2004 2005 (A 59 578).

In the late summer of 1931, the dollar, alongside the French franc, appeared to be the strongest currency in the international system. That precedent should serve as a warning of how vulnerable governments and their finances can rapidly become, and of how fiscal policy can stand in the way of a monetary approach oriented toward stability.

More appalling is the fact that France guarantees the CFA franc s free convertibility into hard currency, originally on the condition that all 15 Franc Zone countries surrender 100 of their foreign reserves to the French Treasury. The amount was reduced to 65 , and then 50 , in 2005, but France still deducts its share directly from these countries export earnings.

With the establishment of ECOWAS, the Franc Zone countries created two sub regional groupings, WAEMU and CEMAC, in a bid to curb British, American, and Nigerian influence. As a result, West African countries are mostly missing out on Africa s current revival and the prospect of a prolonged period of stagnation in the eurozone certainly won t help.

Freely usable currencies means the euro, the Japanese yen, the pound sterling, the Swiss franc the United States dollar and any other currency which has been designated from time to time by a competent international monetary organization as being in fact widely used to make payments for international transactions and widely traded in the principal exchange markets.

The increase in this category is attributable to the impact of changes in inflation ( 2,152,800), offset by the favourable rate of exchange ( 867,700) of the United States dollar, primarily against the Tanzanian shilling and the Rwanda franc, during the period from January to November 2005 and the application of the November exchange rate for December 2005.

Other central banks have not expressed any view, which may suggest that they do not intend to retaliate, at least at this stage. They may have been reassured by the SNB s official statement that the appreciation represented an inappropriate tightening of monetary conditions, and that the policy move merely aims to prevent any further appreciation of the Swiss franc against the euro.

Some countries for example, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe have benefited substantially from Chinese involvement, and now rank among the world s fastest growing economies. But others including the 14 countries that form the franc zone (12 of which are former French colonies) lack major Chinese investment, and are missing out on Africa s economic boom.

Meanwhile, French banks charge at least 5 6 interest on the loans that they grant to African governments to finance their budget deficits. With the commercial lending rate at a high of 18 , bank credit to the franc zone s private sector has dropped to 12.7 of GDP, compared to 36.5 in Sub Saharan Africa and 78.9 in South Africa, the region s leading economy.

Part of those neighbors problem was that domestic borrowing costs looked so high that many small borrowers, including many house buyers, turned to low interest Swiss franc loans and were then hit by the franc s massive appreciation. The turbulence reinforces the lesson fundamental to the rationale of establishing the euro that ordinary people and businesses should not be exposed to exchange rate risk.

According to the Secretariat, additional requirements as a result of the changes with respect to the Swiss franc and the euro amount to 9.0 million and 3.4 million, respectively similar weakening of the exchange rate of the dollar to the Chilean peso, the Thai baht and the Kenyan shilling would result in additional requirements of 3.1 million, 1.1 million and 1.7 million, respectively.

In Switzerland and Denmark, investors want exposure to a currency that is expected to appreciate in nominal terms. If you were holding Swiss franc assets at a negative nominal return right before its central bank abandoned its euro peg in mid January, you could have made a 20 return overnight a negative nominal return is a small price to pay for a large capital gain.

Despite the increasing importance of remittances from Italy, Spain, and the United States, the largest share in absolute terms still originates from France. There is thus a real need in the Franc Zone for a financing institution that would convert migrant remittances into productive investments, thereby generating jobs and wealth, and that would broaden access to banking services, mortgages, insurance products, pension plans, and technical assistance.

GENEVA When the Swiss National Bank (SNB) recently brought its interest rate down to 0.25 , it announced that it would engage in quantitative easing, following in the footsteps of the United States Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. More surprising was the simultaneous announcement that it was intervening on the foreign exchange market with the aim of reversing the appreciation of the franc.

The Advisory Committee notes from table 2 that the decrease results from savings owing to the favourable rate of exchange of the United States dollar against the Tanzania shilling and the Rwanda franc ( 867,700 gross, 850,200 net) and lower requirements under post incumbency and other charges ( 4,592,400 gross, 4,963,900 net), offset by the impact of changes in inflation (additional requirements of 2,152,800 gross, 1,938,200 net).

France has a veto within the boards of directors of the Franc Zone s two central banks, while two French commercial banks, BNP Paribas and Société Générale, exercise a quasi monopoly on lending programs, mainly centered on short term trade financing and the needs of governments, public and private companies, and the elite. All other local banks have adopted the same approach, severely restricting access to financial services for households and entrepreneurs.

The political problem is that the second solution cannot yet be sold to German voters, let alone to nationalist fringe parties like France s National Front and Finland s True Finns. Perhaps it will be possible to persuade the Germans if the alternative is eurozone collapse, which would put the Deutschemark, or a Northern Euro, in the uncomfortable position that the Swiss franc occupies today too strong for its own good.

The new rates are effective from the school year in progress on 1 January 2005. The currency areas where increases were approved are as follows Austria (euro), Belgium (euro), Denmark (krone), France (euro), Germany (euro), Ireland (euro), Italy (euro), Japan (yen), Netherlands (euro), Spain (euro), Sweden (krona), Switzerland (Swiss franc), United Kingdom (pound sterling), United States dollar in the United States and the United States dollar outside the United States.

To accept de Gaulle s offer, these leaders had to agree, among other things, to allow the stationing of French troops on their territory, provide France with a steady supply of raw materials at pre determined prices, assume all colonial era debts incurred by France, maintain the CFA Franc as their common currency, and grant the French Treasury veto authority over their sub regional central banks. De Gaulle got most of what he wanted, and granted independence.