Ghana Cocoa Board Receives 260 Million-Dollar Loan

The state-owned Ghana Cocoa Board has signed in a 260-million-US-dollar Receivables Backed Pre-Export Finance Facility for the 2000/2001 cocoa crop season.

The facility, which will be used for the purchase of cocoa during the season, was syndicated by 19 banks from nine countries.

The agreement was signed in London Friday, according to a statement made available in Accra Sunday.

It said John Henry Newman, chief executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board, and other senior officials signed for the board while representatives of the syndication signed for their respective institutions.

It named the mandated arrangers for this year's syndication, the eight of its kind, as Barclays Bank Plc, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Credit Lyonnais, Dresdner Klienwort Benson, Ghana International Plc and Standard Chartered Bank.

Ghana's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, J.E.K. Aggrey-Orleans, noted that recent times had put the country's survival instinct of optimism to a great test.

He said the dismal international economic landscape and the unkind vagaries of the commodities markets could not have posed more frustrating and tantalising challenges for the country.

"As today dawned, we are forever undaunted in our determination to face up to these challenges with prudent financial and marketing strategies matched only by our unsleeping vigilance and integrity," he added.

Aggrey-Orleans spoke of government's efforts at lending support and providing additional resources to improving farms and cocoa production.

He said that even in these hard and harsh times, the government's support for the cocoa farmer is reflected in its maintaining the continual increase in the producer price.

He indicated that at the market level, Ghana was working closely with other producers in the Cocoa Producers Alliance to re-appraise their concerted policies for sound sustainable production.

Aggrey-Orleans appealed to processors of cocoa, current and potential, to advance into value-added finished products, chocolate and chocolate confectioneries and thus help promote meaningful consumption, adding: "we need all our friends to support our unflinching resolve towards a brighter future of financial stability in Ghana."