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Ghana COCOBOD signs 150 million
term-loan agreement with RBS
From Kwaku Osei Bonsu, GNA Special Correspondent, London
London, March 16, GNA - The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has
signed a landmark deal for a-150 million dollar term-credit
facility with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to enhance
efficiency and boost Ghana's cocoa production.
It is the first time ever that a corporate organisation from
the country has secured a loan from the international
financial market and is widely seen as a demonstration of
the growing confidence in the nation's economy.
The facility with a one-year moratorium is repayable in
three years.
President John Agyekum Kufuor witnessed the joint signing of
the agreement by Mr Isaac Osei, Chief Executive Officer of
the COCOBOD, Mr Tom Hardy, the RBS Head of Project Financing
for Africa and the Middle East, Mr Joe Mensah, Managing
Director of Ghana International Bank and Mr Dramani Egala,
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Marketing
Company, in London on Friday.
Mr Osei said the money would be invested in three key areas
to enhance productivity, quality assurance and the domestic
value chain, through the application of improved farm level
agronomic practices, modernisation of the Board's quality
control laboratories to carry out chemical test analysis to
assure quality and the building of a 100,000 tonne warehouse
in Sekondi-Tarkoradi to reduce cost.
He said he was optimistic that the expected 30 percent
increase in Ghana's cocoa production within the period would
take care of the loan repayment.
The country last year hit an all-time record cocoa
production of over 700,000 tonnes and this is projected to
increase to about one million tonnes in the next three
years.
President Kufuor noted that the COCOBOD had a track record
of credit-worthiness and that past records showed it had
always been able to meet all of its financial obligations to
its lenders.
He said the government stood ready to assist the cocoa
industry not only to raise output, but also the quality of
the country's cocoa beans, which already was ahead of all
other producers.
"The future of COCOBOD as a reliable partner in
international commodity financing arrangement of this kind
is therefore never in doubt."
President Kufuor said cocoa was a legacy bequeathed to Ghana
by its forefathers and for the matter, the government was
determined to do everything to ensure that it was handed to
the next generation on a very strong footing.
The RBS Chief Executive Officer, Mr Johnny Cameron, said
they were delighted to partner Ghana in the drive to improve
the cocoa sector of the economy.
This showed how a Western Bank could add value to emerging
economies, he added.
GNA
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