The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has secured 3.39 billion cedis ($288.02 million) through the issue of short-term debt on the domestic market, results of the debt sale show, funding that should allow the regulator to boost purchases from farmers.
The debt, issued on Monday, carried an interest rate of 11% and will mature in June 2027, according to results of the debt auction shared by Cocoa Capital, the special purpose vehicle through which the debt was issued. The target for the debt issue was 4 billion cedis ($339.85 million).
The funds are expected to allow Ghana, the second-largest cocoa producer, to begin disbursing money to licensed buying companies (LBCs) to purchase cocoa from farmers.
Ghana’s new season opened on September 25, but LBCs had warned they would not buy cocoa with their own funds and wait months to be repaid by COCOBOD, delaying purchases.
This week’s issuance is the first of three planned tranches of debt under COCOBOD’s 16.3 billion cedis ($1.38 billion) domestic financing programme. The second and third tranches are expected to be issued during the current season.
COCOBOD has struggled to finance the sector since the collapse of its decades-old syndicated loan arrangement with international banks in the 2023/24 season.
A subsequent arrangement under which international traders financed cocoa purchases also broke down, contributing to delays in payments to farmers last season.
