Borrowing has become the order of Africa countries. Not long ago we reported the gov’t intention to borrow some amount Gh17837m for june-August. Currently, The government of Ghana is seeking parliamentary approval to borrow US$1.3 billion to finance the purchase of cocoa for the 2020/2021 crop season.
An additional GHS6.5 million in tax waivers has also been presented to Parliament. The requests were before the Finance Committee of Parliament on Monday, August 10, 2020.
The House is expected to debate and approve the request or otherwise before it goes on recess later this week.
The amount was a cocoa syndicated loan signed between COCOBOD and some international financial institutions.
COCOBOD in 2019 increased the producer price of beans from GHS7,640 to GHS8,240 per tonne.
With the global fight against COVID-19, most international trading commodities have seen plummeting prices with cocoa also being affected.
The sector is currently in line to benefit from a US$600 million loan facility from the African Development Bank. The agreement for the funds was signed in November 2019, but the money is yet to hit the accounts of the Bank of Ghana, due to procedural arrangements.