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Dr. Opuni highlighted the potential loss of 200 million US dollars if COCOBOD failed to capitalize on additional cocoa purchases, preferring instead to rely on higher-cost loans from local banks and the central bank under current management led by Boahen Aidoo.
He emphasized the prudence of securing a syndicated loan at a 1.5% interest rate compared to loans from local banks at rates exceeding 30%. Dr. Opuni criticized the current approach as a display of severe financial mismanagement.
“From January 2014 to early January 2017, COCOBOD exclusively utilized the syndicated loan for its operations, avoiding loans from the Central Bank and local banks,” Dr. Opuni stated.
According to Reuters, COCOBOD faces challenges fulfilling its contractual obligation to deliver 350,000 metric tonnes of cocoa at a previously agreed price of USD 2,600 per tonne, despite current world cocoa prices exceeding USD 9,000 per tonne. This discrepancy could result in Ghana potentially losing over USD 6,000 per tonne in future deliveries.
The cumulative impact of these contractual shortcomings suggests Ghana stands to lose approximately USD 2 billion due to COCOBOD’s inability to meet its current cocoa shipment commitments.
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