Joseph Boahen Aidoo
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has signed a syndicated loan amount of $1.3 billion for the 2019/2020 crop season.
The signing ceremony took place in Paris, France, on Friday, September 13, 2019 and was streamed live to journalists in Accra.
For the 2019/2020, a total of 24 banks are involved.
The signing was after Parliament of Ghana approved COCOBOD’s proposal to borrow up to $1.5 billion to aid cocoa purchases for the 2019/2020 crop season.
The first tranche of the funds is to hit the Bank of Ghana’s accounts in the first week of October 2019.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Paris, Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo thanked the international banks including Societie Generale for their continuous support towards the growth of the Ghanaian cocoa sector.
He said the confidence by the international banks in COCOBOD stems from the fact that it has the ability to repay it’s loans promptly.
He revealed the loan amount for the 2018 season was paid ahead of deadline.
The 2019/2020 facility was oversubscribed, according to the Chief Executive.
Present at the signing ceremony were the Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Gyan Baffour and Board Chairman of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang.
BY Melvin Tarlue