The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has refuted claims that it was rejected in its quest to secure a $1.5 billion loan for the 2024–2025 cocoa crop season.
The response comes after the minority in Parliament alleged that the loan request failed to attract interest from international banks due to COCOBOD’s poor financial health.
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the leader of the caucus, claimed that “the announcement by COCOBOD that it has taken a bold decision not to borrow from foreign banks to finance cocoa purchases after 32 years is false, unmeritorious, contrived, and face-saving,” portions of the statement said.
He alleged that COCOBOD was refused entry into the market because it is no longer creditworthy, lacks credibility, and is unable to produce enough cocoa to meet its contractual obligations.
“Clearly, the banks came to the conclusion that out of the projected production of 650,000 metric tonnes of cocoa for the 2024/2025 crop year, which is doubtful, 250,000 metric tonnes will be used to service existing rolled-over contracts, leaving only 400,000 metric tonnes to honour COCOBOD’s obligations for the 2024/2025 crop year. This raised the ability to pay questions for the banks, hence their refusal to participate,” he added.
However, in a statement issued on Thursday, August 22, COCOBOD denied the claims.
“The assertion by the Minority Caucus that the International Banks have rejected the Ghana Cocoa Board’s request and that COCOBOD was ‘chased away’ from the market is false. This is so because syndicated banks submitted term sheets in response to COCOBOD’s earlier Request for Proposals (RFP) for consideration.
“Indeed, notwithstanding our intentions to wean off syndicated transactions, we still have committed contracts that need to be fulfilled through the syndicated process.These transactions have necessitated a discussion with financial institutions, and nothing in this process indicates, to us, a lack of confidence in COCOBOD’s creditworthiness from these financial institutions.”
COCOBOD slammed the Minority for realising a press statement containing “falsehoods, inaccuracies, and misrepresentations” about the current state of the cocoa sector.
“The Minority’s claim that COCOBOD’s decision to source funding domestically is a ‘face-saving’ measure to hide its financial difficulties is categorically untrue.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
