First tranche of Cocoa Syndicated Loan to hit BoG account in October 2022

The first tranche of $1.3 billion COCOBOD Cocoa Syndicated Loan is expected to hit the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) account by October 2022.

This is what Joy Business has picked up from persons with knowledge of the Fund Raising programme.

The second tranche of $390 million, which would be spread over three months should be coming in from November 2022 to February 2023.

Securing the Funds and impact on the Ghana cedi 

Sources say BoG is expected to “draw down” the funds from the Ghana International Bank in London, one of the participating banks in the Cocoa Loan Syndication programme.

The BoG will take the dollars and give the cedi equivalent to  COCOBOD for Cocoa purchase 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 Ghana cedi over the past month.

The local currency is said to have depreciated against the dollar by more than 30 percent since the beginning of this year.

Details of the Cocoa Loan Syndication programme

A team made up of officials of the Finance Ministry, Bank of Ghana and COCOBOD are expected to conclude the Road Show for the loan agreement in London today.

This was after the team engaged other banks that are expected to participate in the loan syndication programme.

“We understand that  six banks are helping COCOBOD to raise the funds, or let say acting as Lead Arrangers for the Cocoa Loan Syndication programme”, a source told Joy Business.

The banks are;  The Standard Chartered Bank, Rabo Bank, Ghana International Bank, and  French Investment Bank Natixis.

The rest are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and one of Japan’s Largest Bank MUFG.

The firms are expected to underwrite and lead other banks in securing the funds.

COCOBOD and the Syndication programme

Since the 1992/93 crop season, COCOBOD has consistently and successfully, through the pre-export syndicated finance facility, obtained a receivables-backed syndicated loan each year from the international money market to finance its cocoa purchases.The facility, which is the largest soft commodity deal in sub-Saharan Africa, has help the COCOBOD to finance cocoa purchases and related operational activities in the crop season.

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Source: myjoyonline.come