COCOBOD to combine self-financing with syndicated loans for 2024/2025 cocoa season

Kumasi, Ghana - Joseph Boahen Aidoo, CEO of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has reaffirmed plans to introduce a self-financing model for the 2024/2025 cocoa crop season, while maintaining the traditional syndicated loan system.

Addressing cocoa farmers from various districts in Kumasi on Friday, Aidoo clarified that the self-financing initiative will complement, rather than replace, the existing loan structure.

This announcement comes after Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam contradicted COCOBOD's initial statement, emphasizing the government's intention to seek external funding for the cocoa sector.

Aidoo's reassurance aims to alleviate concerns among stakeholders, ensuring a blended approach to funding the sector.

“It is just a blend. We are blending what we’ve been doing for years. I don’t think there is anything wrong with introducing a new thing. Once you have an existing model, you can only combine that model with a new one, and I believe that if it works, then Ghana will work with that model going forward.

“We have already tried it during the last crop season, from June up to the end of August. That was the model we were using to buy cocoa and ship, and it has worked, but we want to scale it. So even as we may be going for a loan, because when you talk about syndication, it is like going to borrow, and what we are doing will not require borrowing. So if we are blending not borrowing with borrowing, I don’t think it should become an issue.

“We want to implement the not borrowing, thus the self-financing. That is what we are starting the season with, and once it works, there will be no need for us to go for borrowing,” he stated.

The self-financing model is expected to enhance COCOBOD's financial autonomy while still leveraging external support.

Source: Lead News Online