XOF (West African CFA Franc)

The West African CFA franc (XOF) is the currency of eight independent states in West Africa. The XOF uses both coins and banknotes, with the franc subdivided into 100 centimes. The Central Bank of West African States, located in Dakar, Senegal, regulates the currency. 

The CFA franc is equivalent to the West African CFA franc. CFA stands for Communatué financière d'Afrique or African Financial Community. 

The members that use the West African CFA France consist of the West African Economic and Monetary Union and include Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. Together, these countries have a spending power that exceeds over 78 billion dollars.

Because the members are joined together by their use of the CFA franc, they have created what is known as the CFA franc zone. The CFA franc zone is made up of the two independent unions of the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the Central Africa Economic and Monetary Community. The dual union helped cement the value and usability of the CFA franc, first by setting its equivalent to the French franc, which later became the euro. By aligning the values, the colonies were able to gain security and stability with the franc. In return, however, the French treasure required large deposits of their external reserves into their accounts, first at 65-percent and then later, lowered down to 50-percent.

Along with the Central African CFA franc, the West African CFA franc makes up the currency for most of central and west Africa. The currency was introduced following the World War II and replaced the French West African franc. 

Several countries belonging to the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) were French colonies using the French West African franc, including the Ivory Coast, Dahomey, French Sudan, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Upper Volta. As those colonies gained independence, they continued to use the CFA France for their currency. 

Mali, also known as French Sudan, was the only independent colony to create a national currency in 1961. However, by 1984, Mali returned to use the CFA franc, with an exchange of 1 CFA France to 2 Malian francs. The CFA pegs to the euro.