107 sats \ 6 replies \ @erict875 31 Mar \ on: France, Russia, & The CFA Franc econ
France has its faults, but her credit, she has done a lot of good things on the continent, same as the British.
Russia? NO, thanks.
Here is an alternative viewpoint:
The colonisation of the continent was a period where native Africans experienced social mobility on a large scale, for the first time, thanks to an unprecedented economic boom, made possible by modern institutions, health care, governance etc, and, more importantly, the presence of millions of European settlers, who emigrated to the continent to take advantage of the many opportunities. As a result, many African countries in the 60s had GDPs rivaling with those of South Korea, Vietnam, Singapour etc! And the CFA contributed to it. Is it perfect? Of course not. Its it still justified? It's complicated.
Please remember that no African country is forced to adopt it. Many have left the monetary union in the past, e.g. Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Mali (temporarily), Guinea etc. Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, joined it. The Comores Islands have different agreements with France, their CFA has a different peg to the euro. My point is, there are options, including the option to leave. But why don't we leave, if we're not forced to stay? Because it is clearly the lesser of two evils. Look at Nigeria, Zimbabwe, DRC, Egypt. You see my point? The CFA is relatively immune to the kind of devaluation common to most native African currencies. Its a choice. Perfect, I don't know, and probably not, but it's justified.
What has Russia done in Africa? She infiltrated the continent during the cold War, trained charismatic leaders to Marxism with the mission to spread their toxic ideology. As a result, you had greed, civil (independence) wars, millions of the European settlers were forced out (please look up "the coffin or the luggage"). Those settlers lived together, side by side with Africans on the continent, they traded with them, went to the same schools etc.
I see the same scenario playing out today, and I'm not optimistic at all...
Bitcoin can help the continent, but the underlying narrative to support it is extremely biased.
Thanks for posting this alternative viewpoint. It's obviously a complicated history.
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Also, you cannot forget the fact that the colonies were viewed as part of the French empire. Until 1975, you could travel to France without visa, only a passport was necessary. Until the mid 80s, you could take your CFA notes to France, and either use them in some shops in Paris, or exchange them for French Francs, at no cost in any bank.
This is how strong the bonds were, and obviously, such divorces are always messy.
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It’s the opposite of El Salvador and what Milei is trying in Argentina, move to a stronger currency
Liberia was not a French colony. It was liberated from France and USA
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ES and Argentina adoption of a foreign currency followed the failure of their respective local currencies. I suspect that the decision to switch to the usd makes sense because the US are their biggest trading partner? In a way, it's actually a similar situation with France and their former African colonies, no?
I was initially very hopeful the Central African Republic would follow ES steps, but it became clear very early that they were actually setting up a gigantic scam. Our next best shot at adopting bitcoin will be the deployment of the strike wallet.
I don't understand your reference to Liberia in this context...
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Liberia was a country created by emancipated slaves in USA. They thought life would be better in Africa than in USA. They were wrong
Regarding Argentina I said it’s the reverse because CFA is ending , Argentina is doing the opposite
How many times have people been hopeful about Africa only to be disappointed?
Stop being hopeful about Africa. Until the people get smarter and less corrupt and less violent nothing will change
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