The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has debunked reports that it has terminated the cocoa syndication loans for the 2023/2024 crop season.
In a press release dated November 10, 2023, the Board said it is in process of raising $800 million from a syndicate of banks to finance cocoa purchases.
This follows a report by Reuters that the firm had borrowed up to $200 million from cocoa traders to plug funding gap.
“Since the beginning of the Season, cocoa purchases have been financed with non-collateralised cocoa sales proceeds. COCOBOD is therefore still in the process of securing the syndicated loan for the 2023/24 Crop Season”, the statement read.
The statement also that explained that, COCOBOD had an initial plan to raise additional fund on $400 million.
“The strategy was therefore, to use a pre-financing arrangement with the international buyers to raise an amount of $400 million for purchases at the beginning of the Season in September 2023”.
Below is the full statement
