President John Mahama
The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is in debt of GH¢32.5 billion of which GH¢9.7 billion is due to be paid at the end of September 2025.
President John Mahama made this known when he delivered his first State of the Nation address (SONA) today.
“After initial assessment of the book we have discovered that our economic problems are much deeper than what was previously known. We have inherited a country that is broken on many fronts.
The challenges confronting us are staggering. We are saddled with staggering debt and glaring signs of almost deliberate and in some cases reckless mismanagement of our resource,” Mr. Mahama stated.
According to him, in 2023/2024 crop season, COCOBOD was unable to supply 333,767 metric tonnes of cocoa which it has sold at $2600 per tonne as the management rolled over the contract into the 2024/2025 crop season.
“The implication is that every tonne of cocoa delivered this year in fulfillment of the rollover contract, Cocoa farmers and Ghanaians are going to lose $4,000 in revenue.
Other State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) that were also in debt include the ECG which owes GH¢68 billion.
Touching on inflation, the President also said after setting an inflation target of 18% by the end of 2024, the NPP government, the actual outing was 23% significantly higher than the threshold agreed with the IMF with the Ghana cedis depreciating downward slide losing 19% of its value against the dollar in 2024.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah