This paper analyzed convergence in the economies of the Franc Zone countries in Africa. Using an econometric validation based on cross-sectional and panel data, the study tested a number of hypotheses, the main ones being the convergence of the economies of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) zones through certain economic and budgetary variables, the existence of spillover effects, as well as the search for a common growth path for the economies of the two zones.
The study’s findings show that the convergence process, and hence that of integration has not been carried out uniformly in the Franc Zone: the process has been given greater emphasis in UEMOA than in CEMAC Zone. Further, the technique used to measure the conditional convergence model made it possible to highlight the existence of key variables that help to maximize the convergence speed. The study found a period-related convergence in the cotton-producing countries, coffee-producing countries and coastal countries. This shows that the hypothesis of a common convergence path in the Franc Zone has not been borne out by our study. The analysis of spatial effects has brought to the fore the existence of inhibitor effects on the convergence speed. GDNet originated | 
