Eric Opoku, the Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture has revealed Ghana defaulted on an $800m loan to purchase 850,000 tonnes of cocoa.
According to Eric Opoku COCOBOD went for went to the syndicated market and took a loan of $800 million to purchase 850,000 tonnes of cocoa.
He added that at the end of the season, COCOBOD were unable to produce to meet 850,000 tonnes, hence defaulted payment.
Speaking at the appointment committee vetting committee on Monday, January 20, Eric Opoku, detailed, “On the issues of default, Ghana went to the syndicated market and took a loan of $800 million to purchase 850,000 tonnes of cocoa. At the end of the season, we were unable to produce to meet 850,000 tonnes. We defaulted on the loans”.
“They decided to roll over that delivery to this year. The quantity is 374,000 tonnes. This is the figure they gave us during the transition. Now that we have assumed office, we have to look at how to deal with this debt and many other debts in the sector before we can make progress”, he added.
Eric Opoku further revealed that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has indicated that their production was 530,000 metric tonnes.
He detailed that Ghana’s drop in cocoa production has a serious financial implication regarding Ghana’s cocoa loan commitments.
The minister-designate added, “Just recently during the transition engagement, COCOBOD submitted a list to us. In that document, they indicated that their production was 530 metric tonnes. In this case, both of you are right. But being it 430 or 530 metric tonnes, both are right. But production has declined and that is the lowest in the last two decades”.
