The recent announcement to discontinue accessing syndicated loans from foreign banks is part of a broad strategy to resort to domestic financing of the cocoa sector, The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has explained.
The board maintained that the shift was aimed towards earning Ghanaian cocoa farmers more value while maximizing the benefits of cocoa to the economy.
In a press statement rebutting arguments by the Minority in parliament that the entity had been kicked out of the international market for syndicated loans, Chief Executive of COCOBOD Joseph Aidoo said statements of such characterizations were false and misrepresenting.
“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.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the proposed decision to explore non-syndicated funding is part of a broader strategy to diversify our sources of funding, making the Board more self-financing and sustainable in the medium to long term, deriving more value for farmers and retaining more value within the Ghanaian economy,” the statement read in part.
In a release on Wednesday, Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato-Forson asserted that the change in COCOBOD policy to discontinue borrowing on the international market was as a result of COCOBOD’s status as being unfit for credit.
“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,” Dr. Ato Forson had said.
COCOBOD refuted the allegation calling it “categorically untrue”.
The board further stated the new path it had charted was a “forward-thinking policy” which would “sustain and grow the cocoa industry”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Mitchell Asare Amoamah
