A consortium of local and international banks have reposed confidence in the country's economy and the cocoa sector in particular by agreeing to lend the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) US$1.8 billion to be used to purchase cocoa beans in the 2015/16 cocoa season.
The board sealed the deal yesterday in Paris, France, where the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Dr Stephen K. Opuni, and the participating banks signed the agreement to pave the way for the transfer of the money to Ghana.
In attendance was a Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, and Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mr Victor Smith.
The amount will fund the purchase of some 850,000 tonnes of cocoa beans from licensed buying companies (LBCs) in the ongoing season.
In the meantime, however, the transfer of the money from the lenders to the Bank of Ghana (BoG), from where it will be disbursed, will help cushion the country’s gross reserves, while helping stabilise th