119-hr2325

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2325 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2325

 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 March 25, 2025

 Mr. Huizenga (for himself and Mr. Meuser) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 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.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

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.
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