Eight West African countries will rename their common currency, CFA franc, to "Eco," in what Cote d'Ivoire's President Alassane Ouattara called a "historic" move on Saturday.

Ouattara made his remarks at a press conference in the country's southern city of Abidjan, with French President Emmanuel Macron by his side.

The Eco will be pegged to the euro.

The CFA franc is used in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a combined population of about 150 million and around 235 billion U.S. dollars of gross domestic product.

Eight African countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, will use the renamed currency. All the countries are former French colonies except Guinea-Bissau.

The CFA franc was born in 1945 and at the time stood for "French Colonies in Africa" but now stands for "African Financial Community". Opponents of the currency have deemed it as remains of colonial times while supporters have said it has provided financial stability to the region.