What is the currency of Mali?

The people of Mali use the West African CFA Franc; known colloquially as the Franc. The West African CFA Franc is a currency that is used by multiple countries. In other words, the currency is also known as the Franc CFA. CFA is a French abbreviation and stands for Communauté Financière Africaine, or Financial Community of Africa. The international code for the West African CFA Franc is XOF. Overall, the CFA Franc’s value is guaranteed by the French Treasury.

We heard about some changes…

As recent as 2019, there has been a proposal to introduce a new currency to West Africa called the Eco. The goal is to reduce France’s role in the West African currency. There is much controversy about the Malian currency being dependent on France. Learn more about the Eco and its development here. Eco was proposed to launch in 2020, but we can all take a wild guess why this economic arrangement was delayed–the same reason why everything else around the world being delayed in 2020.

Hold up! CFA has a twin?

The West African CFA Franc is not to be confused with the Central African CFA Franc, which is of equal value. The international code for the Central African CFA Franc is XAF. Member nations are as follows:

• Cameroon
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo)
• Equatorial Guinea
• Gabon

It’s more than just Malian currency…

The currency of Mali is the currency of the nations below. Here’s a list of partner nations that use the West African CFA Franc.

• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Guinea-Bissau
• Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire)
• Mali
• Niger
• Senegal
• Togo

Exchange rate and denominations

Since the West African CFA Franc is issued from the French Treasury, its value has been pegged to the Euro. 1 Euro= approx 655 CFA Francs. The CFA Franc is divided into 100 centimes, but no bills or coins have been issued in centimes. Denominations of the currency of Mali are as follows:

Coins: 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 250, 500

Banknotes: 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000