Franc CFA BEAC

A decree of the French government of December 26, 1945 introduced the CFA franc as the monetary unit of the French territories of West and Central Africa. Its emission on the territory of French Equatorial Africa was carried out by the Central Ticket Office of Overseas France. On January 20, 1955, the Emission Institute of French Equatorial Africa and Cameroon was established, to which emission functions were transferred. On April 14, 1959, the Central Bank of Equatorial Africa and Cameroon was established on the basis of the Emission Institute.

The Currency Cooperation Convention of November 22, 1972 reorganized the currency union and established a new central bank, the Bank of Central African States ( French Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale, BEAC ). The bank began operations on April 2, 1973.

In 1983, Equatorial Guinea joined the currency union, replacing its own monetary unit in 1986 with the equivalent CFA franc BEAC ^[1] .

In 1973, coinage began with the name of the Bank of Central African States at 5 francs, in 1974 at 1 and 10 francs, and in 1975 at 25 francs. The coins of these denominations were the same for all countries of the sample.

In 1976, coin minting began at 50 and 500 francs, which indicated the letter of the country (A - Chad, B - Central African Republic, C - Congo, D - Gabon, E - Cameroon). Since 1996, the letters of countries on coins are not indicated.

Equatorial Guinea (the only Spanish-speaking country of the union) in 1985 issued coins of 5, 25 and 50 francs, which differed from coins of the general sample by indicating the currency in Spanish (Francos), as well as the full name of the country on the obverse (and not the letter code, as on coin issues of other countries). In 1986, only one coin of this type was issued - 50 francs; in subsequent years, coins of this type were not minted ^[2] .

In 1992, the minting of coins of 100 francs began, in 1998 - 500 francs of a new type ^[3] .

In 2006, the production of coins of a new type began at 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500 francs ^[4] .

In 1973, the production of banknotes of the 1972 type began. On the banknotes issued by different countries, in addition to the name of the bank, the name of the country was also indicated. The design of banknotes of different countries varied. Banknotes were issued:

• Gabon: 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 francs;
• Cameroon: 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 francs;
• Congo: 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000 francs;
• CAR: 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000 francs;
• Chad: 500, 1000, 5000 francs ^[5] .

Equatorial Guinea, after joining the union, issued 1985 banknotes of 500, 1000, 5000 francs ^[6] .

In 1993, banknotes of the unified type of 1992 were issued into circulation at 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10 000 francs, affiliation to certain countries on the banknotes was indicated using the letters:

A - Gabon;

C - Chad;

E - Equatorial Guinea;

M - Central African Republic;

T - Republic of the Congo;

U - Cameroon.

In 2002, a new type of banknote was issued ^[7] . Banknotes of the 1992 series are withdrawn from circulation as they wear out.

• Butakov D.D., Zolotarenko E.D., Rybalko G.P. World Currencies: A Handbook / Ed. S.M. Borisova, G.P. Rybalko, O.V. Mozhaiskova. - 5th ed., Revised. and add. - M .: Finance and statistics, 1987. - 383 p.
• Cuhaj G., Michael T., Miller H. Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000. - 39th ed. - Iola: Krause Publications, 2011 .-- 2345 p. - ISBN 978-1-4402-1172-8 .
• Cuhaj GS, Michael T. Standard Catalog of World Coins 2001-Date. - 6th ed. - Iola: Krause Publications, 2011 .-- 742 p. - ISBN 978-1-4402-1575-9 .
• Cuhaj GS Standard Catalog of World Paper Money. General Issues 1368-1960. - 12th ed. - Iola: Krause Publications, 2008 .-- 1223 p. - ISBN 978-0-89689-730-4 .
• Cuhaj GS Standard Catalog of World Paper Money. General Issues 1961 — Present. - 17th ed. - Iola: Krause Publications, 2011 .-- 1112 p. - ISBN 978-1-4402-1584-1 .

• ceeac-eccas.org (fr.) - Official site of the Economic Community of Central African Countries