France rejected this second measure, as it was afraid of touching a precious symbol of Franco-African monetary cooperation. It wanted a real adjustment and nothing else. But its internal politics complicated things. The socialist government of François Mitterrand, elected in 1981, had effectively adopted a strategy of 'competitive disinflation': having failed in his attempt to revive the French economy, he wanted to achieve greater price competitiveness by reducing France's inflationary gap vis-à-vis competing countries. This plan included the pegging of the French franc to the German mark, a strong and credible currency in the eyes of financial markets. The French franc appreciated as a result, causing the CFA francs to strongly appreciate as well. The result was a significant deterioration in the competitiveness of the African countries of the franc zone.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 206