As the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) prepares to launch the e-CFA, the first digital currency in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), West Africa is moving towards a major transformation of its monetary system. Presented as a tool for inclusion and modernization, this project nevertheless raises questions: how to digitize without exclusion, and how to modernize without undermining confidence in the currency?
What is e-CFA?
The launch by the BCEAO of the Interoperable Platform of the Instant Payment System ( PI-SPI ), which will serve as the technological foundation for the e-CFA, confirms that the introduction of the West African digital currency is now imminent.
Even before its launch, it's important to distinguish the eCFA from the CFA franc already used electronically in banks or via mobile money.
Currently, when a customer makes a transfer, a card payment, or a mobile transaction, they are already handling "digitized" CFA francs, but these are linked to a bank or mobile account managed by private operators or financial institutions. This system therefore relies on intermediaries who guarantee the funds and execute the transfers.
The e-CFA, however, represents a new category of currency: a central bank digital currency (CBDC), issued directly by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).
In other words, it is not simply a "digitized" CFA franc in an application, but an official electronic form of the currency itself, guaranteed and controlled by the BCEAO, without any commercial intermediary.
The BCEAO's central bank digital currency (CBDC) project, the e-CFA, is part of a major strategy to modernize payment systems in the eight member countries of the WAEMU: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. Unlike private cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, the e-CFA will be issued and guaranteed by the central bank, with a fixed exchange rate: 1 e-CFA will always be equivalent to 1 CFA franc.
This digital currency will allow users to make transactions via smartphones, cards or electronic wallets, even without having a bank account, thus addressing a major problem in the region where more than 60% of adults remain unbanked.
The promises of e-CFA: modernization and inclusion
One of the major ambitions of the e-CFA is to expand financial inclusion and facilitate access to monetary services through the high penetration of mobile money in West Africa, where more than 140 million active mobile accounts have been recorded. With just a phone, it will be possible to send money, pay bills, and make purchases without going through a traditional bank.
For Professor Amath Ndiaye, an economist at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, the e-CFA represents a historic opportunity to modernize the West African monetary system. Designed and developed in Africa, this digital currency would strengthen regional economic sovereignty and promote financial inclusion, even though, he points out, "the economic stakes go beyond the purely monetary issue .
For his part, Seydi Bocoum , a monetary policy expert, emphasizes the gains in transparency and security offered by the e-CFA. Thanks to transaction traceability, he sees it as an effective tool against corruption and public mismanagement. He believes this digitalization opens a new era for the WAEMU, calling on banks to innovate in the face of a rapidly changing financial landscape.
Fears surrounding a digital transition
But this ambitious project is not without its concerns. Voices are being raised about the persistent digital divide in several WAEMU countries, where limited access to broadband internet, electricity and smartphones could marginalize the most vulnerable populations.
Privacy protection is also at the heart of the debates. A digital currency managed by a central institution poses risks of increased surveillance and social control if data is not adequately protected.
The disappearance of cash will not be immediate, but the global trend is clear: the shift to digital currency is progressing everywhere, in China, Nigeria, Europe, and the Caribbean. In West Africa, the e-CFA franc could represent a historic turning point if it manages to combine efficiency, transparency, and respect for individual freedoms.
