The announcement was made in a press release published at the end of the BEAC Board of Directors, held on December 18, 2024. The sub-regional banking institution had not, moreover, provided additional details on the characteristics of this new range which should help to resolve the persistent shortage of parts in the community area. A problem that complicates daily transactions and puts pressure on the informal economy.
In Brazzaville, for example, the scarcity of coins, also called “tokens”, is often the cause of disputes in the markets, between customers and traders. This is also the case in public transport where users and bus and taxi drivers get angry with each other over the lack of “tokens”. Coins of 1, 2, 5, 10 FCFA are refused in shops and taxis in most Cémac member countries.
Note that in the coin manufacturing process, the BEAC places emphasis on innovations such as size, alloys to be used including new denominations. According to certain media, the sizes of these new coins should be larger unlike the range currently in circulation. The other innovation consists of the non-separation of alloys and the use of less noble materials for the composition of the alloys of the new coins, making it possible to combat the trafficking of “tokens”.
Indeed, in recent years, coins have become increasingly rare in the Cémac zone, due to the existence of parallel circuits which export them, particularly to Asia, where they are melted down and transformed into jewelry. .
-To put an end to these fraudulent practices, the BEAC has decided to strengthen the security of these pieces by producing new ranges, made from a raw material which does not correspond to those used in the jewelry industry.
The BEAC also intends to place a massive order of coins to try to supply the market in the sub-region. It intends to implement a strategy which will force commercial banks to take more coins, since their shortage observed on the market is the fact for both credit establishments and supermarkets to refuse to take them.
Note that it was in 2024 that new coins were injected into the Cémac space. These are Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Central Africa, Equatorial Guinea and Chad.
