The first tranche of the $1.3 billion COCOBOD Cocoa Syndicated Loan is expected to hit the Bank of Ghana(BoG)’s account by October 2022.
According to Joy Business, the second tranche of $390 million, which would be spread over three months should be coming in from November 2022 to February 2023.
It said the Bank of Ghana was expected to “draw down” the funds from the Ghana International Bank in London, one of the participating banks of the programme.
After that, it said the Central Bank will take the dollars and give the cedi equivalent to COCOBOD for cocoa purchases for the next crop season.
The inflows may help boost BoG’s reserves,a move that could help in slowing the sharp depreciation of the cedi over the past month.
The local currency is said to have depreciated against the dollar by more than 30 per cent since the beginning of 2022.
A team made up of officials of the Finance Ministry, the Bank of Ghana and COCOBOD were expected to conclude the Road Show for the loan agreement in London yesterday.
This was after it engaged the banks that are participating in the loan syndicated programme.
“We understand that six banks are helping COCOBOD to raise the funds, or let’s say acting as Lead Arrangers for the Cocoa Syndicated Loan programme,” a source told Joy Business.
The banks are the Standard Chartered Bank, Rabo Bank, Ghana International Bank and French Investment Bank – Natixis.
