The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) says it is still in the process of securing the syndicated loan for the 2023/24 Crop Season and has received firm assurance from bankers. In a statement COCOBOD said it initially planned a two-prong financing for the 2023/2024 Crop Season to diversify its source of funding for the annual cocoa purchases. The strategy was therefore to use a pre-financing arrangement with the international buyers to raise an amount of US$400 million for purchases at the beginning of the Season in September 2023. A statement issued in Accra said these initial funds were expected to be augmented by an additional US$800 million loan from a syndicate of lenders by the end of November 2023. However, it said after engagements with buyers for several weeks, the arrangement was discontinued. ‘Thus, since the beginning of the Season, cocoa purchases have been financed with non collateralized cocoa sales proceeds. The statement said as a matter of fact, the Board had so far received firm response from its bankers in this regard, and the Cocoa syndicated Loan had been laid in Parliament for consideration and approval. ‘We wish to use this medium to assure our stakeholders that the necessary arrangements have been made to secure enough funding for cocoa purchases for the year under review,’ it said.
Source: Ghana News Agency