The CFA franc zone after EMU: Status quo, reform, or dissolution?

After a lull during which economists focused on the consequences of the devaluation of January 1994, the establishment of European Monetary Union has renewed old questions about the future of the CFA Zone. Is the disappearance of the French franc in 2002 likely to serve as an opportunity for decision makers in Europe and in Africa to reform, extend, or even dismantle the Zone's two unions? Are the CFA Zone's two monetary unions worth preserving? If so, how might they be reformed? In addition to the opportunity provided by EMU, the upcoming revision of the Lome accords between EU states and more than 50 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries has been seen as a further occasion for alterations to be made to the institutions of the CFA Zone. In this paper we critically review different scenarios for the future of the two CFA monetary unions in light of recent analytical work.