March 25, 2025
Mr. Huizenga (for himself and Mr. Meuser) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
To withhold United States support for any action in the International Monetary Fund relating to member states of the Central African Economic Monetary Community until a determination as to gross foreign exchange reserves is made.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Central African Exploitation and Manipulation of American Companies Act
or the CEMAC Act
.
Sec. 2. Findings
The Congress finds as follows:
(1)
The member states of the Central African Economic Monetary Community (CEMAC) hold significant oil and gas reserves and have enjoyed decades long relationships and investments with international oil companies (IOCs).
(2)
In 2018, the central bank for CEMAC, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) introduced and intended to enact a foreign exchange regulation that mandates extractive industry companies repatriate restoration funds for site rehabilitation to the BEAC.
(3)
Significant progress has been made in mediated dialogues over the last 7 years to rectify 23 issues with this regulation raised by the IOCs. However, significant issues remain including the refusal of BEAC to remove its sovereign immunity from execution, the role of BEAC as custodian of restoration fund accounts, and the implementation of double jeopardy and material adverse change clauses.
(4)
BEAC has imposed a completely arbitrary deadline of April 30, 2025, for the IOCs to sign this agreement with penalties equivalent to 150 percent of the restoration fund starting May 1, 2025.
(5)
Implementation of this regulation is expected to create a lasting negative impact on oil and gas investment in the Central African region, and will drastically compound an already challenging investment environment.
(6)
The member states of BEAC have indicated that these restoration funds will help them shore up their foreign exchange reserves, despite restoration funds being exclusively allocated for restoration work costs and therefore not meeting the criteria of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for foreign exchange reserves.
(7)
The IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual states that assets must be readily available
and controlled
by a country’s monetary authorities to count towards a country’s foreign exchange reserves.
(8)
Oil and gas investments in the CEMAC region have been declining since 2018 and this BEAC foreign exchange regulation is expected to drastically accelerate this decline.
(9)
Standard & Poor’s estimates that the regulation by 2050 will result in a reduction of government revenue for CEMAC member states of $86,000,000,000, and a reduction in capital investment of $45,000,000,000 in the region.
(10)
By refusing to clarify that these restoration funds will not count towards gross foreign exchange reserves, the IMF has misled the CEMAC member states and directly put tens of billions of dollars of IOCs investment in the region at risk.
Sec. 3. Statement of policy
It is the policy of the United States that—
(1)
the presence of United States companies is a good thing for the regions in which they invest;
(2)
any funds provided to the Bank of Central African States (in this Act referred to as BEAC
) by any extractive industry company for site rehabilitation are ineligible to count towards the gross foreign exchange reserves of a member state of the Central African Economic Monetary Community (in this Act referred to as CEMAC
) based on the requirements of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual of the International Monetary Fund (in this Act referred to as the IMF
);
(3)
the IMF has a responsibility to accurately clarify to countries what are eligible and ineligible assets to count towards the gross foreign exchange reserves of a country, so that countries are able to create appropriate financial policies; and
(4)
the IMF would be responsible for the loss of investment that the CEMAC region would face if a foreign exchange regulation that mandates extractive industry companies repatriate restoration funds for site rehabilitation to the BEAC is enacted.
Sec. 4. Withdrawal of funding
(a) In general
Until the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the United States Executive Director at the IMF and the Secretary of State, makes the determination described in subsection (b)—
(1)
neither the President nor any person or agency shall, on behalf of the United States, vote to approve any action by the IMF relating to any CEMAC member state; and
(2)
the Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the United States Executive Director at the IMF to use the voice and vote of the United States to oppose any proposal to—
(A)
increase the quota in the IMF for any CEMAC member state; or
(B)
modify the exceptional access policy of the IMF for any CEMAC member state.
(b) Determination
The determination referred to in subsection (a) is a determination that the IMF has publicly clarified that any funds provided to BEAC by any international oil company for site rehabilitation are ineligible to count towards the gross foreign exchange reserves of any country.
(c) Publication
On making the determination described in subsection (b), the Secretary of the Treasury shall publicize the determination and transmit a copy of the determination to the appropriate congressional committees.
(d) Report
No later than 30 days after the date the determination described in subsection (b) is made, and no later than 180 days after the enactment of this Act if the determination has, by then, not been made, the Secretary of the Treasury shall provide to the appropriate congressional committees a report that details the actions taken by the United States Government at the International Monetary Fund, including those by the United States Executive Director at the IMF, to have the IMF publicly clarify that any funds provided to BEAC by any international oil company for site rehabilitation are ineligible to count towards the gross foreign exchange reserves of a country.
(e) Appropriate congressional committees
In this section, the term appropriate congressional committees
means—
(1)
the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and
(2)
the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.