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COCOBOD’s mounting debts threatening Ghana’s cocoa sector – World Bank

BusinessCOCOBOD’s mounting debts threatening Ghana’s cocoa sector – World Bank

The World Bank has revealed that Ghana’s cocoa sector is facing serious threats due to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD)’s persistent operational and fiscal challenges.

According to the World Bank’s latest Ghana Economic Update, despite record-high global cocoa prices, Ghana’s production remains weak.

The World Bank asserted that COCOBOD’s quasi-fiscal operations have heightened financial risks.

The World Bank warned that COCOBOD challenges, if left unresolved, will have a dire impact on Ghana’s economy.

Meanwhile, cocoa remains Ghana’s second-largest export earner after gold.

Global Cocoa prices are at multi-decade highs, with experts calling on Ghana to urgently address production and financing bottlenecks to capitalise on the recent market conditions.  

In addition, Dr Randy Abbey, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), has revealed that COCOBOD is drowning in a GH¢33 billion debt.

According to Randy Abbey, the state cocoa regulator is constantly under pressure from creditors, agrochemical suppliers, banks, and legal entities.

Speaking on Joy News on Thursday, June 5, Dr Abbey detailed, The last time I checked, that debt was close to GH¢33 billion”.

“I have to redo it now because the dollar components might go down as a result of the strength of the Cedi now. But that is the situation”, he added.

Randy Abbey further lamented, “Every day, I’m dealing with either solicitor letters or court issues. And it’s about people that we owe. We’ve owed people for four years, for three years, for two years, for a year.”

He further revealed that creditors are constantly on his neck with frequent visits to COCOBOD headquarters in search of payment.

“I’m sure that when you got here, you waited for about an hour. All those you saw leaving my office were companies that we owed. And the banks are chasing them. And they have also come here to chase us.”

Meanwhile, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the finance minister, has announced that the government has approved the increase in the producer price of cocoa from US$3,100 per tonne to US$5,040 per tonne.

Ato Forson, in a post, wrote, “The Producer Price Review Committee (PPRC) on Cocoa, under my Chairmanship, met and agreed on the Producer Price of Cocoa for the 2025/2026 season, which opens on Thursday, 7th August 2025.

Subsequent to this meeting, Government is pleased to announce an increase in the producer price of cocoa from US$3,100 per tonne to US$5,040 per tonne!”.

The finance minister noted that the Government has, by this decision, increased the producer price significantly by 62.58% in US$ terms.

He added, “This increase in the producer price represents 70% of the gross Free-On-Board (FOB) value of $7,200 per tonne, and aligns with President Mahama’s promise to pay cocoa farmers 70% of the FOB price.

It is significant to note that for the 2024/25 cocoa season, the previous NPP administration set an FOB value of US$4,850 per tonne of cocoa, and the producer price at US$3,100, representing 63.9% of FOB, even though the world market price at the time was much better”.

His statement on X added that the Gross FOB value was arrived at using outstanding cocoa contracts of about 100,000 tonnes sold at US$2,600 per tonne in the 2023/2024 crop season, and an average forecast for the 2025/2026 crop season.

Ato Forson asserted that an average exchange rate of GHS10.25 to the US Dollar for the 2025/2026 crop season, revealing that “the Government is pleased to announce an increase in the producer price of cocoa from GHS49,600 per tonne to GHS51,660 per tonne”.

“This further translates to an amount of GHS3,228.75 per bag of 64-kilogram gross weight of cocoa”, he added.

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