BEAC clarifies old coins withdrawal, exchange guidelines.

Speaking to the media, the First Assistant National Director of BEAC, Emmanuel Asafor Cho, said it was imperative to give the public credible information on the withdrawal timetable and exchange conditions.

He stated that the November 1, 2026 deadline to begin the withdrawal of the coins is anchored on Resolution No. 6, adopted on October 7 and 8 2026 by the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union, UMAC. 

He noted that the decision concerns coins of denomination 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 500 FCFA. The Central Bank official noted that 2006 and 2024 coins series are not concerned with the withdrawal process.

Asafor told the media that the decision is aimed at strengthening monetary security and preserve the quality of coins in circulation. He called for calm in the public, noting that the demonitisation process is not automatic but in phases.

The first phase of exchanging the coins to those now accepted as legal tender, the Assistant National Director of BEAC said, covers the period November 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027. 

Within this period, he said the exchange of the old coins will be done for free to the population at all BEAC counters nationwide, Microfinance institutions and commercial banks. 

During this time, he said people are free to exchange the coins whether they are members of a particular financial institution or not.

The second phase of the phasing out of the concerned coins, Asafor noted, will span 1 August to 31 October 2027 and can be done only at the counters of BEAC. 

The last phase of the exercise he specified is from November 1, 2027 wherein the concern coins series will cease being legal tender.

Coins worth three billion FCFA loading 

To accompany the measure, the Governor of BEAC, Yvon Sana Bangui had in an earlier outing disclosed a plan to put coins worth three billion FCFA into circulation by 2030. 

He had said this will be done at a rate of 500 million coins into circulation per year. The decision to demonetize the old coins was taken on October 7, 2026, in N'Djamena, Chad, by UMAC. 

The Ministerial Committee followed a proposal made two days earlier by the BEAC Board of Directors, which met on October 5 still  in the Chadian capital.

According to the central bank's board of directors, the decision “ aims in particular to simplify the fiduciary landscape by withdrawing old, outdated and contrasting coins, in a context of mass production of the 2024 series coins, which  had been be put into circulation in April 2025".

The demonetization decision comes eighteen months after the launch, on April 2, 2025, in Bangui, of the 2024 coins series of BEAC. The series comprises nine denominations viz: 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500 FCFA.

The main innovation in the 2024 series was the  introduction of 200 coin FCFA. The 50 FCFA and 100 FCFA coins now has die-cut shape. Officials said it was designed to facilitate identification and enhance security.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3955 of Friday October 30, 2026