A former Office Manager at the Chief Executive Officer’s office of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Fiifi Boafo, has publicly rejected claims that the previous administration failed to repay a cocoa syndication loan, insisting that the 2023/2024 cocoa season facility was fully settled.
Mr Boafo’s intervention follows recent remarks attributed to the current COCOBOD Chief Executive Officer, Randy Abbey, which have reignited public debate over the state of COCOBOD’s finances and legacy liabilities inherited by the new management.
The cocoa syndicated loan is a critical financing tool for Ghana’s cocoa purchases each season, and questions about its repayment status carry significant implications for investor confidence, international lenders, and the credibility of the country’s cocoa marketing system.
In a social media post accompanied by what he described as documentary proof, Mr Boafo stated that assertions of an unpaid syndication loan are false and misleading.
“This is evidence of full repayment of 2023/24 cocoa season. Disregard the false claim that previous government failed to repay syndication loan. It never happened,” he wrote.
The document attached to the post is a confidential letter dated September 13, 2024, issued by Standard Chartered Bank in its capacity as Facility Agent for the US$800 million Receivables-Backed Trade Finance Facility arranged for COCOBOD for the 2023/2024 cocoa season.
Addressed to the Cocoa Marketing Company (Ghana) Limited and all approved purchasers under the facility agreement, the letter confirms that the loan had been fully amortised.
“This is to advise you that the Facility Agreement terminated on the 30th day of September 2024 due to a full repayment,” the letter stated.
Standard Chartered further confirmed that all obligations under the facility had been settled and that there were no outstanding payments linked to the arrangement.
“We would also like to take this opportunity to confirm that all fees have been paid therefore no other outstanding payments are due,” the bank added.
The letter also noted that all unsold cocoa contracts that were assigned to the facility agent had been released back to the Cocoa Marketing Company (Ghana) Limited, suggesting the formal closure of the financing arrangement.
