Comoros Franc

Overview

The Comoros Franc is pegged to the Euro at 491.96775 Francs = 1 Euro. Comoros is an island nation off the east coast of Africa between Mozambique and Madagascar. The Comoros is the only state to be a member of all of the following organizatins: African Union, Francophonie, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Arab League, and Indian Ocean Commission.

Economy

• Comoros is one of the world's poorest countries. Economic growth and poverty reduction are top priorities for the government.
• The unemployment rate is 14.3%, which is considered very high.
• Agriculture, including fishing, hunting, and forestry, is the most important sector of the economy and provides employment for 38.4% of the population.
• The high density of population, as many as 1,000 per square kilometer in the densest agricultural areas, may lead to an environmental crisis in the near future, especially given the high rate of population growth.
• The GDP decreased by 1.9% in 2004, and real GDP per capita had been declining each year to that point. This is due to such factors as decline in investment, falling consumption, rising inflation, and the increase in trade imbalance, due partly to low prices for cash crops, especially vanilla.

History

• On July 1, 1925, the French government made an agreement with the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas to create the Bank of Madagascar, based in Paris, and gave it a private monopoly to issue currency for the colony of Madagascar.
• The Malagasy Franc was equivalent to the French Franc and French coins continued to circulate in Madagascar, as it had no coins of its own until 1943.
• In 1950, the French government took over majority ownership of the Banque de Madagascar et des Comores.
• On January 1, 1960 the French Franc was revalued, with 100 old Francs = 1 new Franc. The value of the new franc was 1 Comores Franc = 0.02 French francs (50 Comoros francs = 1 French franc).
• Until January 12, 1994, the Comores Franc was pegged to the French Franc at the rate of 50 Comores Francs = 1 French Franc. On the same date, the currency was devalued along with the CFA Franc BEAC devaluation. However, the Comores Franc was devalued by one-third to a new rate of 75 Comores Francs = 1 French Franc, while the CFA Franc’s new rate was 100 CFA Francs = 1 French Franc.
• When the Euro was created in January 1999, the Comoros Franc was pegged at its prevailing rate to the new currency. The exchange rate is now 491.96775 Comoros Francs = 1 Euro.