To change FCFA 10,000 banknote, one has to lose FCFA 200.

Taking off FCFA 200 from FCFA 10,000, and FCFA 100 from FCFA 5,000 is enough money to buy food and drinks at the end of the day. In the economic capital and especially at the busy Akwa streets, businessmen and some fuel stations have resorted in changing money for money.

They deduct FCFA 200 from every FCFA 10,000 and FCFA 100 from every FCFA 5,000 from stranded passersby and traders who need change in order to respectively board a taxi or reimburse their customers. Since most traders in town alleged there is “scarcity in small banknotes like FCFA 2,000, 1,000 and 500 and as well as FCFA 100 and FCFA 50 coins,” some individuals are making ends meet from the business.

As to how persons engaged in such business get enough small banknotes, a barbecue businessman said when paying taxi fare, buying from big shops and supermarkets and when they finish their normal daily activities especially traders who sell in Kiosk on popular junction, they reserve the money for next day’s business. Some, he went on, go straight to BEAC at Bonanjo where they change large sums in FCFA 2,000, FCFA 1,000 and FCFA 500 to later on sell to desperate victims.

In most fuel stations, workers refute the fact of changing money for money because their bosses do not approve of the practice. However, those who operate petit businesses do not regret deducting the sums in the name of “change”. Some taxi drivers equally extort money from passenger with big banknotes by obliging them to pay above the normal tariff.