“(Business in Cameroon) - In an effort to establish a constructive dialogue and resolve differences of interpretation, Mr Abbas Mahamat Tolli (photo) invited extractive industry operators to identify more clearly and specifically the points of concern so that due easing will be made to this monetary policy instrument without, however, questioning its essence and fundamental objectives,” this is the extract of an official release published by the Bank of Central African States (Beac) following a meeting on October 18, 2019, in Washington, with oil companies operating within the CEMAC region. The meeting, convened by the governor of the BEAC Abbas Mahamat Tolli, was aimed at presenting CEMAC’s new foreign exchange regulation to those companies. The companies presented the challenges faced in the implementation of the regulation, and the governor promised to examine the problems on a case per case basis. Thus the release.

According to the release, “the Beac commits to examining these concerns with all due attention, where appropriate, to achieve a convergence of views in order to facilitate due accounting of the particularities of this economic sector which is really important for CEMAC economies.”

Let’s note that the new exchange regulation, the requirement to repatriate and transfer foreign currencies held abroad to the BEAC notably, angered economic operators. In view of the currency crisis that ensured a few months ago, BEAC, while deploring some banks dishonesty, agreed to introduce easing measures.

An appointment had then been made for a meeting with operators in the extractive sector in order to take the particularities of these operators into account in the application of exchange regulations. According to the IMF, which recently invited CEMAC states to amend their mining and petroleum codes in order to ensure the proper application of this new exchange rate regulation, “almost all oil and mining companies in CEMAC have agreements with states that exempt them from the obligation to repatriate their foreign exchange earnings.” This situation deprives the sub-region of important foreign exchange.

BRM