Six-nation Central African Summit Debates Future Of CFA Franc

Leaders from six central African countries gathered Friday in Cameroon for a summit expected to focus on the CFA franc, whose future has come under question in West Africa

Yaounde, Cameroon, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2019 ) :Leaders from six central African countries gathered Friday in Cameroon for a summit expected to focus on the CFA franc, whose future has come under question in West Africa.

The extraordinary one-day meeting in Yaounde included leaders from Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

Cameroon President Biya hosted the summit and said it "gives us a new opportunity to exchange and agree additional measures that can consolidate the economic recovery of our region.

" Five of the six nations were represented by their heads of state, while Gabon, whose President Ali Bongo Ondimba suffered a stroke last year, sent its prime minister.

As members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), the nations jointly use the CFA franc, a Currency rooted in the French colonial era in western and central Africa.

The CFA franc will be on the agenda, according to press kit distributed by Biya's office.

"The currency inherited from colonisation divides economists and heads of state in the (CFA) franc zone," it said.