COCOBOD still in talks with foreign lenders for cocoa syndication loan – Finance minister

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has stated that the country’s cocoa regulator, COCOBOD, is still in talks with foreign lenders to raise a syndicated loan to fund the next crop season.

According to him, COCOBOD has not completely abandoned the entire cocoa syndication loan program.

“COCOBOD is not abandoning the cocoa syndication. Negotiations are ongoing but it will not bring in more than $600 million out of an initial target of $1.5 billion,” Dr. Amin Adam is quoted to have said by Bloomberg during an interaction with journalists in Accra on August 26, 2024.

He indicated that the inability to achieve this funding target has led COCOBOD to seek alternative sources of funding.

The update by the finance minister comes after COCOBOD announced last week that it was breaking away from a 32-year tradition of seeking funds from international banks for the annual cocoa crop season to adopt a method of self-reliance at the start of the 2024/2025 cocoa crop season in September 2024.

The Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo explained that the decision to move away from seeking syndicated loans from external sources is part of a broader strategy towards self-reliance and reducing dependency.

In June this year, Ghana's cocoa production output reached 429,323 metric tons at the end of the harvest, according to data released by COCOBOD.

This is less than 55 percent of the average seasonal output with the decline being attributed to disastrous harvests caused by poor weather conditions, swollen pod disease, and illegal mining activities in cocoa-growing areas.

These developments have not only disrupted COCOBOD’s operations but have impacted the supply value chain, pushing prices for cocoa beans up on the international market.

Collectively, Ghana and Ivory Coast account for about 60 percent of the global supply for cocoa beans.

MA/AE

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