Africa · Middle Africa · Sovereign state

Current time in Central African Republic

A single time zone at UTC+01:00.

Time in Bangui☾ Night
04:27:53

Sunday, May 31, 2026

☾ NIGHT 05:3211:4317:54
Zone
WAT
UTC
UTC+01:00
IANA
Africa/Bangui

About Central African Republic's time

A single time zone.

The Central African Republic stays simple with a single time zone—West Africa Time (UTC+1) all year round, no daylight saving changes to worry about.

Major cities

Cities of Central African Republic.

Bangui
04:27
04:27:53 · WAT
 UTC+01:00

History

How Central African Republic keeps time.

The Central African Republic has followed West Africa Time (WAT, UTC+01:00) since gaining independence from France in 1960. As a former French colony, it adopted the same time zone structure as many neighboring Francophone African nations. The country has maintained this offset consistently without any major changes or daylight saving time transitions.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about Central African Republic's time zone, daylight saving rules, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What time zone is the Central African Republic in?
The entire country uses Africa/Bangui, which is UTC+01:00, also known as West Africa Time (WAT).
Does the Central African Republic observe daylight saving time?
No, the Central African Republic does not observe daylight saving time—the time stays the same year-round.
What time is it in the Central African Republic compared to New York?
The Central African Republic is typically 6 hours ahead of New York (ET). When it's 12:00 PM in New York, it's 6:00 PM in Bangui.
Is the time the same throughout the entire country?
Yes, the entire Central African Republic uses a single time zone—Africa/Bangui (UTC+01:00)—with no regional differences.
How does the time in the Central African Republic compare to other African countries?
It shares the same UTC+01:00 time zone as several other West and Central African countries, including Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, and Nigeria.

Free · Developer API

Time, as JSON.

Every IANA time zone with live offsets, DST status, and the countries and cities that use them — clean, dependable JSON. Sign up free and get an API key in seconds.

GET /v1/timezones Live

countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.

Get your free API key →
// France's time zones, right now
GET /v1/timezones?country=fr
{
"data": [
{
"iana": "Europe/Paris",
"display_name": "Paris",
"current": {
"utc_offset": "+02:00",
"abbreviation": "CEST",
"is_dst": true
}
}
]
}