Africa Exchange Rates - Indicative Interbank
Mid-market interbank rates for USD, GBP, EUR and CNY against 13 African local currencies. Updated daily. Your operator will apply its own spread on top.
Popular pairs
Popular African rates
The most-searched conversions — both directions, live rates.
Intra-African routes
African-currency to African-currency conversions — regional trade, border communities, and fixed-peg zones (CMA rand, CFA franc).
West Africa
East Africa
Southern Africa
All Africa Exchange Rates
Every African currency against the 7 base currencies — dollar (USD), euro (EUR), pound (GBP), yuan (CNY), yen (JPY), rand (ZAR) and naira (NGN), both directions.
North Africa
West Africa
Central Africa
East Africa
Southern Africa
Trade-route rates (¥ JPY, ₹ INR)
Importers, businesses, used-car buyers and Indian-origin communities — India–Africa and Japan–Africa trade.
Yen, won, peso, yuan & more — popular conversions
The most-searched round amounts: yen (JPY), won (KRW), Mexican (MXN) and Philippine (PHP) peso, yuan (CNY), rupees (INR, PKR), dong (VND), baht (THB) — into the dollar, and dollars into them.
Understanding African Exchange Rates
Official, parallel, and remittance — three different rates
In several African economies, the same currency pair can be quoted at three different levels: the official rate published by the central bank, the parallel rate observed on the informal market, and the effective remittance rate that mobile money or transfer-app users actually receive. Pre-2023 in Nigeria, the gap between official and parallel reached 30%-60%; since the NAFEM unification, that gap has compressed to 1%-3%. Ethiopia's July 2024 reform similarly converged its two windows. The effective remittance rate then layers the operator's commercial margin on top — typically a 1%-4% spread above the interbank mid-market that MomoCalc displays.
The CFA franc system and the fixed EUR peg
Two African monetary unions share a fixed peg to the Euro: the WAEMU (XOF / West African CFA Franc) and the CEMAC (XAF / Central African CFA Franc). Both rates are fixed at exactly 655.957 CFA per 1 EUR since the Euro's launch in 1999, guaranteed operationally by the French Treasury. This peg removes FX risk entirely for EUR remittances landing in WAEMU mobile money wallets (Wave, Orange Money, MTN MoMo, Moov) and CEMAC wallets (MTN MoMo Cameroon, Orange Money). The XOF and XAF are not interchangeable, however: a Senegal-to-Cameroon payment requires an FX conversion at the BCEAO-BEAC interbank rate.
Recent devaluations: Naira, Birr, Cedi
Three major African currencies have undergone significant adjustments in 2023-2025. The Nigerian Naira depreciated more than 70% against the USD between the 2023 NAFEM unification and late 2024. The Ethiopian Birr lost roughly 30% in the days following the July 2024 reform. The Ghanaian Cedi suffered cumulative depreciation tied to sovereign debt restructuring and commodity-price volatility. For diaspora senders to these countries, the timing of transfers now matters far more than before — monthly rather than quarterly transfers reduce exposure to FX risk.
How mobile money operators set their FX margins
A typical operator FX margin breaks down into three components: a hedging cost (the operator must lock the rate ahead of execution and protect against intraday movements), a commercial margin (compensation for the service), and a risk provision (on thinner pairs like USD/SLL or USD/MZN, the provision is wider). That's why liquid pairs (USD/NGN, GBP/KES) show tight 0.5%-2% spreads at competitive mobile-first remitters, while illiquid pairs can exceed 4%. On WAEMU PI-SPI routes, BCEAO's rail removes the FX layer entirely since every leg is denominated in XOF.
The rise of the yuan in African trade
China-Africa bilateral trade reached approximately $348 billion in 2025, up around 17% year-on-year, making the yuan one of the most strategically important non-G3 currencies for African importers. Nigeria alone accounted for about $22 billion of bilateral flow with China; Ghana around $14 billion; Kenya around $8 billion, anchored by the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway financed under China's Belt and Road Initiative. Until recently, most Nigerian, Ghanaian and Kenyan importers paid Chinese suppliers via a costly USD detour: local currency → USD at a forex bureau or broker, then USD → CNY on the Chinese side, with two layers of spread. In April 2026, Ecobank confirmed negotiations with Bank of China to launch direct local-currency-to-yuan settlement across its 35 African markets. If concluded, those talks would formalise infrastructure that informal exchangers have served for over a decade.
Where MomoCalc rates come from
Rates displayed on these pages come from an interbank FX aggregator and refresh daily. For the CFA-Euro pairs, the stored value is the official fixed parity of 655.957. For local inter-African pairs (for example KES to UGX), the rate is read directly from our internal table when available or computed via the most liquid USD cross. We do not store operator rates; for those, see the destination country's inbound transfer page, which compares the main apps live.
All major to local exchange rates
| Local currency | USD | GBP | EUR | CNY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇳🇬NGN · Nigerian Naira | 1,380.43 | 1,835.10 | 1,558.38 | 203.45 |
| 🇬🇭GHS · Ghanaian Cedi | 11.57 | 15.60 | 13.25 | 1.70 |
| 🇰🇪KES · Kenyan Shilling | 129.33 | 174.39 | 148.07 | 19.09 |
| 🇹🇿TZS · Tanzanian Shilling | 2,629 | 3,516 | 2,986 | 387 |
| 🇺🇬UGX · Ugandan Shilling | 3,670 | 4,929 | 4,186 | 541 |
| 🇿🇲ZMW · Zambian Kwacha | 18.18 | 24.50 | 20.81 | 2.68 |
| 🇷🇼RWF · Rwandan Franc | 1,472 | 1,979 | 1,681 | 217 |
| 🇪🇹ETB · Ethiopian Birr | 160.89 | 216.22 | 187.85 | 23.71 |
| 🇸🇱SLL · Sierra Leonean Leone | 24,357.91 | 32,746.29 | 27,855.17 | 3,589.80 |
| 🇨🇲XAF · Franc CFA | 573 | 774 | 656 | 85 |
| 🇸🇳XOF · Franc CFA | 573 | 774 | 656 | 85 |
| 🇲🇿MZN · Mozambican Metical | 63.59 | 86.02 | 73.07 | 9.37 |
| 🇿🇦ZAR · South African Rand | 16.50 | 22.20 | 18.88 | 2.42 |
| 🇨🇩CDF · Congolese Franc | 2,273 | 3,128 | 2,650 | 335 |
| 🇲🇬MGA · Malagasy Ariary | 4,294 | 5,804 | 4,849 | 633 |
| 🇪🇬EGP · Egyptian Pound | 50.54 | 68.00 | 57.81 | 7.45 |
| 🇱🇷LRD · Liberian Dollar | 180.99 | 244.56 | 207.34 | 26.67 |
| 🇱🇸LSL · Lesotho Loti | 16.29 | 21.76 | 18.82 | — |
| 🇸🇿SZL · Eswatini Lilangeni | 16.29 | 21.76 | 18.82 | — |
| 🇧🇼BWP · Botswana Pula | 13.50 | 18.03 | 15.60 | — |
| 🇩🇿DZD · Algerian Dinar | 135 | 182 | 158 | 20 |
| 🇳🇦NAD · Namibian Dollar | 16.29 | 21.76 | 18.82 | 2.39 |
| 🇿🇼ZWG · Zimbabwe Gold | 26.76 | — | — | — |
| 🇲🇦MAD · Moroccan Dirham | 9.34 | 12.56 | 10.68 | 1.38 |
| 🇹🇳TND · Tunisian Dinar | 2.950 | 3.970 | 3.370 | 0.434 |
| 🇦🇴AOA · Angolan Kwanza | 926.86 | 1,294.66 | 1,100.20 | 143.35 |
| 🇲🇼MWK · Malawian Kwacha | 1,745.75 | 2,354.24 | 1,999.85 | 257.28 |
| 🇲🇺MUR · Mauritian Rupee | 47.12 | 63.42 | 53.90 | 6.90 |
| 🇸🇨SCR · Seychellois Rupee | 14.71 | 19.86 | 16.87 | 2.17 |
| 🇬🇳GNF · Guinean Franc | 8,777 | 11,825 | 10,045 | 1,294 |
| 🇸🇩SDG · Sudanese Pound | 510.35 | 604.76 | 512.34 | 75.22 |
| 🇸🇸SSP · South Sudanese Pound | 4,842.71 | 6,526.14 | 5,548.53 | 713.71 |
| 🇸🇴SOS · Somali Shilling | 571.64 | 773.38 | 655.18 | 84.25 |
| 🇩🇯DJF · Djiboutian Franc | 178 | 239 | 203 | 26 |
| 🇪🇷ERN · Eritrean Nakfa | 15.00 | 20.17 | 17.15 | 2.21 |
| 🇧🇮BIF · Burundian Franc | 2,993 | 4,040 | 3,428 | 441 |
| 🇬🇲GMD · Gambian Dalasi | 74.33 | 100.14 | 85.06 | 10.95 |
| 🇨🇻CVE · Cape Verdean Escudo | 96.42 | 129.68 | 110.27 | 14.21 |
| 🇰🇲KMF · Comorian Franc | 430 | 579 | 492 | 63 |
| 🇸🇹STN · São Tomé Dobra | 21.42 | 28.81 | 24.50 | 3.16 |
| 🇱🇾LYD · Libyan Dinar | 6.400 | 8.650 | 7.330 | 0.943 |
| 🇲🇷MRU · Mauritanian Ouguiya | 40.10 | 54.30 | 46.00 | 5.91 |
| 🇸🇷SRD · Surinamese Dollar | 37.86 | 51.26 | 43.43 | 5.58 |
Click any value to open the dedicated converter for that pair.
FAQ
Where do MomoCalc's rates come from?
Why is the rate I see different from my operator's rate?
Are the EUR/XOF and EUR/XAF rates really fixed?
How often does MomoCalc update rates?
Can I send money directly from this page?
Rates are indicative interbank reference rates updated daily. Mobile money operators apply a variable spread. Always verify the final rate in your app before confirming a transfer.