A derivation of the centrifugal force from an effective vector formulation of gravitation is attempted. The centrifugal force appears to be due to a relativistic effect of the counter-rotating Universe. Gravitomagnetic energy effects, a mil-lion times stronger than the self-energy effects responsible for curvature in the GR language, would thus produce the centrifugal acceleration. The Machian picture, already successful in the case of the Coriolis force, gets an additional circumstantial support.