This new policy, called the 'Abidjan doctrine' or 'Balladur doctrine', rendered the devaluation inevitable, as the IMF announced that it would continue to deal only with those states that had agreed to devalue. The devaluation, therefore, was no longer presented as a tool to correct macroeconomic imbalances, but as the necessary condition for African states to have access to international funds.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 210