USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: RE: CFA

last message from professor mbodj

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	RE: CFA
Date:	Fri, 28 Jun 2013 04:51:14 +0000
From:	Mohamed Mbodj <Mohamed.Mbodj@mville.edu>
To:	harrow <harrow@msu.edu>

You can post them under my name, no problem. By the way, when France devalued the Franc in the 1940s and 1960s, she left the CFA alone, thus giving her a higher exchange rate.

Mohamed Mbodj, Ph.D.
Professor,
History Department and
African & African-American Studies
Manhattanville College
2900, Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577
Phone: 914-323 7183
Email: mohamed.mbodj@mville.edu

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From: harrow [harrow@msu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 6:25 PM
To: Mohamed Mbodj
Subject: RE: CFA

Hi Mohamed. 

Do you not want these answers posted on usaafrica?  Should I post them anonymously?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: Mohamed Mbodj <Mohamed.Mbodj@mville.edu>
Date: 06/27/2013 1:53 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu>
Subject: RE: CFA

By the way, people should remember that colonies always counted for less than 2% of France GDP (after the loss of Haiti!). And such weight, then crucial in a few sectors (textiles at the top), has decreased further since the 1960s!

Mohamed Mbodj, Ph.D.
Professor,
History Department and
African & African-American Studies
Manhattanville College
2900, Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577
Phone: 914-323 7183
Email: mohamed.mbodj@mville.edu

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From: Mohamed Mbodj
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 4:04 PM
To: kenneth harrow
Subject: RE: CFA

I rather be in Sénégal than in Mozambique or Tanzania after all: no mining bonanza, but higher GDP per capita, higher standard of living, lower inflation, less internal displacement, larger middle-class. Overall, the CFA countries were a bit better off and definitely not worst off at all! The argument of the consumerist elite is valid for all of Africa and Abacha or Mobutu's children didn't need the CFA to plunder their countries.

Mohamed Mbodj, Ph.D.
Professor,
History Department and
African & African-American Studies
Manhattanville College
2900, Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577
Phone: 914-323 7183
Email: mohamed.mbodj@mville.edu

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From: kenneth harrow [harrow@msu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 3:50 PM
To: Mohamed Mbodj
Subject: Re: CFA

hi mohamed
so what is the overall assessment? in the final analysis, better or worse? guinea is only one case; what about other countries in africa that might be compared? say, tanzania or mozambique or some other country without lots of oil
ken

On 6/27/13 12:13 PM, Mohamed Mbodj wrote:

Dear Ken,

I am following the thread and would have liked to contribute but in the past my submissions were rejected (some technicality probably). A few points though:
- What had non-CFA countries done more/better with their "sovereignty"? Guinea has been given as an example in 1958. What does it have to show for it? The largest number of emigrants within       the region? As of the limited sovereignty signed on by these states, it is an unflattering fact, but again, these accords were signed during the Cold War. 
- I appreciate traveling in so many countries without having to worry about banking/currency arrangement or to recourse to a "black market" exchange network: what's wrong with that? And this         provided the basis for ECOWAS, the most successful regional grouping in Africa so far.
- Inflation does count: I spent a sabbatical in London in 1986-87, y, and I can tell you one one of the surprises was to discover "real inflation" (much bigger and almsot one week to the next) there.
- France went through two massive devaluations since 1945, the CFA once under the insistence of EU and IMF.
- After independence, France (the EEC) maintained for some years preferential tariffs (33-100%) for agricultural imports from their former colonies: not sure howo that was so bad.
- Until very recently, China pegged its currency toe the Dollar..

Mohamed Mbodj, Ph.D.
Professor,
History Department and
African & African-American Studies
Manhattanville College
2900, Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577
Phone: 914-323 7183
Email: mohamed.mbodj@mville.edu

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu

--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu