Heads of state of the eight-nation West African Economic and Monetary Union have named Ivorian Henri Philippe Dakoury Tabley as governor of the Central Bank of West African states (BCEAO). Dakoury Tabley, who was a board member for Ivory Coast at the African Development Bank, will take over from Damo Justin Baro of Burkina Faso who had been serving as interim head of the regional central bank for more than a year. The Central Bank of West African States serves eight former French colonies which currently use the CFA franc. The leaders, meeting in Burkina Faso's capital, also appointed Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane, currently director for Africa at the International Monetary Fund, as President of the West African Development Bank. The West African CFA franc which is used by Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, was created in 1945 to protect former colonies from the impact of the devaluation of the French franc after World War Two. SOURCE: ABC NEWS