A subregion of the African continent, Central African States include the states of Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe. All of these independent states are members of the Economic Community of Central African States but only six are members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, namely, Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. These states share the same legal tender, the Central African CFA (Cooperation Financiere en Afrique centrale or Financial Cooperation in Central Africa) Franc.
The currency was first introduced in 1945 to the French territories in Equatorial Guinea which replaced the French Equatorial African. Two years later, the Bank of the Central African States headquartered in Yaounde, Cameroon issued a new set of banknotes in 5, 10, 2, 50, 100, and 1000 denominations. In 1949, the bank issued 500 francs, and in 1952, 5,000 francs.
From 1957, it was the Institut d’Emission de l’Afrique Equatoriale Francaise et du Cameroon that produced the banknotes until the Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Arique Centrale took over the prodution again. In 1975, each state started releasing notes on its own. However, in 1993, the countries were assigned country codes instead.
