{"id":53437,"date":"2022-08-30T06:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T06:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/08\/30\/how-france-underdevelops-africa\/"},"modified":"2022-08-30T06:00:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T06:00:44","slug":"how-france-underdevelops-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/08\/30\/how-france-underdevelops-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"How France Underdevelops Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\nAfrica, Armed Conflicts, Crime & Justice, Development & Aid, Economy & Trade, Education, Energy, Financial Crisis, Global, Headlines, Inequality\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Opinion<\/span>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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SYDNEY & KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 30 2022 – IPS) <\/span>– The 1960s saw the formal independence of most sub-Saharan African French colonies. However, their economies have not advanced much, leaving most people poorer than in other postcolonial African economies. <\/p>\n

Decolonization?<\/strong>
Pre-Second World War colonial money arrangements were consolidated into Colonies Fran\u00e7aises d\u2019Afrique<\/em> (CFA<\/a>) franc zone set up on 26 December 1945. Decolonization became inevitable after France\u2019s defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 andWithdrawal from Algeria less than a decade later.
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Anis Chowdhury<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

France insisted decolonization must involve \u2018interdependence\u2019 \u2013 presumably asymmetric, instead of between equals \u2013 not true \u2018sovereignty\u2019<\/a>. For colonies to get \u2018independence\u2019, France required membership of Communaut\u00e9 Fran\u00e7aise d\u2019Afrique<\/em> (still CFA) \u2013 created in 1958, replacing Colonies<\/em> with Communaut\u00e9<\/em>.<\/p>\n

CFA countries now have two currency unions. Benin, Burkina Faso, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo belong to UEMOA, the French acronym for the West African Economic and Monetary Union. <\/p>\n

Its counterpart CEMAC, the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (EMAC), includes Cameroon and the Central African Republic as well as Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. <\/p>\n

Both CEMAC (UEMOA) and CEMAC use CFA francs. Equatorial Guinea, an ex-Spanish colony that joined France in 1985, was one of two non French colonies. Guinea-Bissau, an ex-Portuguese colony, was the last to join the Union in 1997.<\/p>\n

Such requirements have ensured France\u2019s continued exploitation. Eleven of the 14 former French West and Central African colonies remain least developed countries (LDCs), at the bottom of UNDP\u2019s Human Development Index (HDI). <\/p>\n

French African colonies<\/strong>
In 1960, Guinea was the first country to leave the CFA. Before fellow Guineans, President S\u00e9kou Tour\u00e9 told President Charles de Gaulle, \u201cWe prefer poverty in freedom to wealth in slavery<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n

French efforts to destabilize Guinea were quickly repelled. Counterfeit banknotes<\/a> were printed and circulated for use in Guinea \u2013 with predictable consequences. This massive fraud brought down Guinea’s economy.<\/p>\n

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Jomo Kwame Sundaram<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

France withdrew more than 4,000 civil servants, judges, teachers, doctors and technicians, telling them to sabotage everything left behind: \u201cun divorce sans pension alimentaire<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a divorce without alimony. <\/p>\n

Ex-French espionage documentation service (SDECE<\/a>) head Maurice Robert later acknowledged, \u201cFrance launched a series of armed operations using local mercenaries, with the aim of developing a climate of insecurity and, if possible, overthrow S\u00e9kou Tour\u00e9<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 1962, French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou warned African colonies considering leaving the franc zone: \u201cLet us allow the experience of S\u00e9kou Tour\u00e9 to unfold. Many Africans are beginning to feel that Guinean politics are suicidal and contrary to the interests of the whole of Africa<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

President Sylvanus Olmio, a Togo independence leader was assassinated at the US Embassy on 13 January 1963. This occurred a month after he created a central bank and issued the Togolese Franc as legal tender. Togo was still in the CFA.<\/p>\n

Mali quit the CFA and replaced it with the Malian Frank in 1962. However, Modibokeita, a radical independence leader and its first president was removed by a coup in 1968. It is not surprising that Mali re-joined CFA in 1984. <\/p>\n

Resource-rich<\/strong>
All eight UEMOA economies are oil importers. They also export agricultural commodities like cotton and cocoa. The six CEMAC economies rely heavily on oil exports, except for the Central African Republic.<\/p>\n

CFA experts claim that gluing the FCFA to a French franc, and later the euro, has kept inflation down. But lower inflation<\/a> has also meant \u201cslower per capita growth and diminished poverty reduction\u201d than in other African countries. <\/p>\n

The CFA has \u201ctraded <\/a>decreased inflation for fiscal restraint and limited macroeconomic options\u201d. Unsurprisingly, CFA members\u2019 growth rates<\/a>On average, they were lower than those in non-CFA countries. <\/p>\n

With one of Africa\u2019s highest incomes<\/a>, petroleum producer Equatorial Guinea is the only CFA country to have \u2018graduated\u2019 out of LDC status, in 2017, after only meeting the income \u2018graduation\u2019 criterion<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Its oil boom ensured growth averaging 23.4% annually during 2000\u201308. But growth has fallen sharply since, contracting by -5% yearly during 2013\u201321! Its 2019 HDI of 0.5292 ranks it tenth. 145 of 189 countries<\/a>Below the 0.631 average for middle-ranking nations<\/p>\n

Poor people<\/strong>
With over 70% of its population poor<\/a>, and over 40% in \u2018extreme poverty<\/a>\u2019, inequality is extremely high in Equatorial Guinea. The top 1% got over 17% of pre-tax national income<\/a>In 2021, the bottom half saw 11.5%.<\/p>\n

Four of ten 6\u201312 year old children<\/a>Many more children in Equatorial Guin\u00e9e were not in school in 2012 than in other poorer African countries. Half of the children who started primary school didn’t finish, and less than a quarter continued on to middle school. <\/p>\n

Gabon is a member of CFA the fifth largest African oil producer<\/a>The country is a middle-income country. Gabon is highly vulnerable to volatility in oil prices, with petroleum accounting for 80% of Gabon’s exports, 45% GDP and 60% of fiscal revenue. <\/p>\n

One in three Gabonese lived in poverty<\/a>One in ten people were living in extreme poverty in 2017, according to the. More than half of the country’s rural residents were poor, with urban poverty three times greater than rural areas.<\/p>\n

C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, a non-LDC CFA member, enjoyed high growth, peaking at 10.8% in 2013. Growth fell due to lower cocoa prices, and Covid-19. 2% in 2020<\/a>. About 46% of Ivorians lived on less than 750 FCFA<\/a>($1.30 daily), with its HDI ranking 162 of 189 for 2019.<\/p>\n

CFA\u2019s neo-colonial role<\/strong>
Clearly, the CFA \u201cpromotes inertia and underdevelopment among its member states<\/a>\u201d. It’s worse, it also limits<\/a>Credit is available for fiscal policies initiatives, including industrialization promotion. <\/p>\n

Credit-GDP ratios<\/a> in CFA countries have been low at 10\u201325% \u2013 against over 60% in other Sub-Saharan African countries! Low credit-GDP ratios are also a sign of low credit. poor finance and banking facilities<\/a>Investing in the wrong way is not effective funding. <\/p>\n

CFA members lose the ability to adjust monetary and exchange rates, and are less able to implement development initiatives. They are also unable to deal with commodity price and other problems. <\/p>\n

The CFA\u2019s institutional requirements \u2013 especially keeping 70% of their foreign exchange with the French Treasury \u2013 limit members\u2019 ability to use their forex earnings for development. <\/p>\n

More recent fiscal rules limiting government deficits and debt \u2013 for UEMOA from 2000 and CEMAC in 2002 \u2013 have also constrained policy space, particularly for public investment.<\/p>\n

The CFA has also not<\/a>Trade among members was encouraged. Six decades later, average trade between CEMAC-UEMOA members was averaging 4.7% and 12% of their total commerce<\/a> respectively. Worse, the pegged exchange rate has exacerbated this situation. balance of payments volatility<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Capital flight has been made possible by unrestricted French transfers. The FCFA\u2019s unlimited euro convertibility is supposed to reduce foreign investment risk in the CFA. However, foreign investment is lower<\/a>Compared to other developing countries. <\/p>\n

Total net capital outflows to CFA countries during 1970\u20132010<\/a> came to $83.5 billion \u2013 117% of combined GDP! Capital flight from CFA economies was much more than from other African countries during 1970\u20132015<\/a>. <\/p>\n

IPS UN Bureau<\/p>\n

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