The
Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has completed the repayment of the $1.7
billion loan it raised from a consortium of banks in 2014 to finance
cocoa purchases in the 2014/15 crop season.
The repayment of the
loan started in February this year and ended last month, within which
the board paid off the principal and the accumulated interest.
The
completion of the payment paves the way for the board to make another
entry into the global financial market to raise funds to support cocoa
purchases in the 2015/16 season.
The Public Affairs Manager of
the board, Mr Noah Amenyah, told the Daily Graphic in Accra that the
2014/15 crop season loan attracted an interest of one per cent within
the period.
“The rate was one per cent and that was very good for
a facility of this nature. I am not sure you can get such a rate
anywhere currently,” he said.
History of cocoa loan
The
COCOBOD has, since the 1992/3 cocoa season, resorted to the
international market to raise money to fund the purchase of cocoa beans
from farmers through licensed buying companies (LBCs).
The amount
raised has risen from $140 million in the maiden attempt to peak at $2
billion in the 2010/11 cocoa season, the period the country grossed over
one million metric tonnes of the crop.
In the current season, Mr
Amenyah said, the board would be seeking to raise $1.8 billion to fund
the purchase of about 850,000 tonnes of cocoa beans.
“The loan is expected to come on stream in the middle of September,” he added.
Beyond
helping to augment the operations of COCOBOD, the loan would help
stabilise the cedi, which has been facing serious depreciation in recent
times, as well as shore up national reserves.
Ability to pay
Reacting
to concerns that the board would not be able to produce enough beans to
repay the loan, Mr Amenyah said estimates showed that cocoa production
would rebound this year after a sluggish performance in the last season.
As
a result, he said, the board was confident of producing the needed
quantity of beans to pay off the $1.8 billion loan it intended to take.
“From
our estimates, we will be able to produce enough to pay off the amount
we want to raise this season. Generally, the output fluctuates. When you
have a bumper harvest this year, you don’t expect the output to be so
strong the following season, but because output was not too strong last
year, we expect it to rise this season,” he said.
He attributed
the fluctuation in output to the aging nature of cocoa farmers and
trees, increased number of diseased cocoa trees and illegal mining which
competed with the cocoa plants for land.
“Fortunately, we have
interventions in place to help correct some of these challenges. The
cocoa rehabilitation programme has been ongoing and the success is
already beginning to show. We have already started the free distribution
of 50 million improved seedlings to replace aged and diseased trees,”
he said.
Concurrently, Mr Amenyah said, the board was also
mentoring some youth to cocoa production to help replace aging cocoa
farmers, which has been identified as a major challenge to cocoa
production.
“Already, over 20,000 youth farmers had registered and
were being assisted to cultivate various acreages of cocoa to augment
those operated by the aged”, he said. |
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