Some justify this situation by saying that the manufacturing process is too complex for African countries. But this argument is not very convincing, especially in the long run. A country like Kenya cooperates with a private company that has agreed to outsource the production of the shilling to Kenya. If the Democratic Republic of the Congo was able to obtain the necessary means to manufacture its currency, the countries of the franc zone should be able to do so as well. It would be in their interest, given that the current system is very expensive. Between 2013 and 2017, the BCEAO spent 226.8 million euros for the 'maintenance of the currency circulation', which involves the purchase, transport and insurance of banknotes, at an average cost of €45 million per year. Between the mid-2000s and 2017, the bill has reached over half a billion euros.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 244