Far from marking the end of the 'colonial pact', the birth of the CFA franc favoured the restoration of very advantageous trade relations for France. The creation of this new currency also sanctioned the institutionalisation of a 'principle of automaticity': since the currency of the colonised territories was firmly pegged to that of the metropole, the colonies were deprived of the possibility of regulating the exchange rate of their currencies and therefore found themselves forced to passively endure the unilateral decisions of the metropole, which adjusted the external value of its currency according to its needs. The 'overseas territories' would thus pay the price of the instability of the metropolitan franc. On 26 January 1948, the latter was subject to a devaluation of 44 per cent. The CFA franc adjusted accordingly. On 17 October 1948, the metropolitan franc was devalued a second time, but at that point the French authorities decided to change the parity of the CFA franc: a CFA franc would now buy two metropolitan francs. When the 'new franc', termed 'heavy franc', was created on 27 December 1958, the parity of the CFA franc was maintained. Subsequently, between 1958 and 1986, the French currency would devalue four more times, each time with heavy repercussions for the territories that used the CFA franc.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 78