Ghana’s 1.8 billion dollar cocoa syndicated loan is expected to hit the accounts of Ghana Cocoa Board in the first week of October,2015.
[contextly_sidebar id=”29NVqMtSAULitMQMvk1Mh4Iutu2oumrG”]This comes after cocobod signed the loan agreement with some 22 international banks to finance purchases for the 2015/16 season on 17th September, 2015.
This was confirmed to Citi Business News by COCOBOD’s Public Affairs Manager, Noah Amenyah.
According to him the loan was oversubscribed by over 40 percent to 2.6 billion dollars but Cocobod took only 1.8 billion dollars as initially planned.
“The facility is an 11 month facility and so we will pay before we start the next crop season. The one that we took last year was with an interest rate of 1% and was paid at the end of August…This one is 1.8 billion dollars and will attract the interest of 1.19%”, he stated.
The loan is expected to be used to purchase around 850,000 tonnes of cocoa for the upcoming crop season which starts on October 2,2015.
COCOBOD in 2014 accepted 1.7billion dollars from the partner banks to purchase cocoa beans for the 2014/2015 cocoa season.
Harsh weather and poor farming practices affected crop yields this farming season leading to a 23% drop in projected yields.
Figures from Cocobod show purchases hit 700,000 tonnes in late August but the country might fail to realize its revised 750,000 tonne-target.
Cash from the 1.8 billion dollar cocoa syndicated loan is expected to help stabilize the cedi whose performance has not been stable this year.
Government official have repeatedly asserted that expected inflows of forex expected from the Eurobond, Cocoa Syndicated loan and IMF would help stabilize the cedi.
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By: Rabiu Alhassan/citifmonline.com/Ghana