France scored at least three goals. Firstly, thanks to the single rate of devaluation, it kept the franc zone intact. Secondly, by teaming up with the IMF and using it as a smokescreen, it was able to elude its role as guarantor. It didn't have to pay out a single cent because it hadn't offered any guarantee of convertibility. And thirdly, the 50 per cent devaluation allowed France to double its financial capacity in CFA francs from one day to the next. The budget of the French Ministry of Cooperation, which at the time amounted to 8 billion French francs and was worth 400 billion CFA francs before the change of parity, was now worth 800 billion CFA francs.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 215