IANA tz database · zone identifier

Africa/Bangui

The IANA tz database identifier for West Africa Standard Time in Central African Republic. Store this string — not the abbreviation, not the offset — and your timestamps stay correct forever.

UTC+01:00Abbreviation WATNo DST — never observed
Time in Africa/Bangui☾ Night
00:00:33
Thursday, July 16, 2026
Offset
UTC+01:00
Abbreviation
WAT
DST
No DST

Current offset

UTC+01:00

same year-round

Abbreviation

WAT

used year-round

DST behaviour

Never

has never observed daylight saving

Country

🇨🇫 Central African Republic

ISO 3166: CF · view country page →

Using this identifier

The string to put in your code.

Africa/Bangui is the identifier to use in code and config for this region. Every modern language, database, and OS resolves it through the same tz database, so the examples here behave identically everywhere.

Avoid storing WAT or +01:00 — abbreviations are ambiguous and fixed offsets can't follow rule changes.

// format a date in this zone
new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', {
timeZone: 'Africa/Bangui',
dateStyle: 'full', timeStyle: 'long'
}).format(new Date());

Offset & DST behaviour

One offset,
114 years.

Africa/Bangui has kept UTC+01:00 year-round since 31 December 1911 — no daylight saving and no offset changes on record since. It is among the most stable identifiers in the database.

Every offset this zone has kept

+01:14:20UTC+01:00 · UNCHANGED 31 December 1911 NOW

Keeping this offset since

31 December 1911

Next transition

None scheduled

no DST rules exist for this zone

Safe to assume

Local = UTC + 1h, always

…but store the identifier anyway

Technical record

The database entry, in full.

source: IANA tz database

IdentifierAfrica/Bangui
ISO country codeCF🇨🇫 Central African Republic
Reference coordinates4.37°N, 18.58°Etz database reference point
Standard offsetUTC+01:00abbreviation WAT
Daylight offset—daylight saving has never been observed

Where it applies

All of Central African Republic, one clock.

Looking for travel-friendly info? See Bangui or West Africa Standard Time.

🇨🇫
Central African Republic

5.2M people, one time zone. The whole country resolves to Africa/Bangui.

Country page →
🇨🇫 Bangui
00:00
00:00:33 · WAT
pop. 889KWAT

Related identifiers

Nearby in the database.

Same zone group · West Africa Standard Time

other identifiers keeping WAT

Same offset · UTC+01:00

other zones keeping this offset right now

Frequently asked questions

Answers specific to this identifier — generated from the database record. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What UTC offset is Africa/Bangui?
Africa/Bangui is UTC+01:00, year-round. The offset never changes because the zone does not observe daylight saving time.
Does Africa/Bangui observe daylight saving time?
No. Africa/Bangui has never observed DST — it has kept UTC+01:00 continuously since 31 December 1911.
Which country uses Africa/Bangui?
Central African Republic. The identifier covers the whole country.
Is Africa/Bangui the same as WAT?
Africa/Bangui is one of the IANA zones that keeps West Africa Standard Time (WAT). Use Africa/Bangui in software — WAT is a human-friendly label, not a valid identifier.

Free · Developer API

This zone, as JSON.

Everything on this page — offset, abbreviation, DST rules, coordinates — from one endpoint, always current with the latest tzdb release.

GET /v1/timezones Live

countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.

Get your free API key →
// this identifier, resolved live
GET /v1/timezones?iana=Africa/Bangui
{
"iana": "Africa/Bangui",
"utc_offset": "+01:00",
"abbreviation": "WAT",
"observes_dst": false,
"country": "CF"
}