Parliament has granted approval for an $800 million loan agreement between the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and a consortium of banks and financial institutions.
The loan is intended to fund the purchase of cocoa beans for the 2023/2024 Crop Season, covering approximately 47 percent of the projected 850,000 tonnes of cocoa beans.
COCOBOD has reassured that it has implemented concrete measures to secure adequate funds for its annual cocoa purchases in the 2023/2024 crop season.
In response to a Reuters report stating that the firm borrowed up to $200 million from cocoa traders to address its funding gap, COCOBOD clarified that it has adopted a two-prong financing strategy to meet the necessary funds for the purchasing season.
A statement from COCOBOD in response to the Reuters report indicated that it had had firm assurances from its bankers of making funds available in time for the purchasing season and that a “Cocoa syndicated Loan has been laid in Parliament for consideration and approval.”
The 2023/2024 loan facility disbursement is proposed to be utilized for cocoa purchases and related operations as listed below:
Farmers’ services cost
– cocoa diseases and pest controls
– fertilizer distribution and application
– farmer pension scheme
– cocoa roads
– industry inputs (jute sacks, twine, stencil ink, passbooks.)
– child education support
Share of Net FOB
-payments to farmers
– buyer’s margin
– hauler’s margin
– international marketing operations (storage and shipping operations)
– disinfestation/grading and sealing cost
-finance cost
-COCOBOD and divisions cost
other costs/scale inspection and phytosanitary inspections
-rehabilitation
-planting of coffee and sheanut operations