Joseph Boahen Aidoo, CEO of COCOBOD<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the government to adjust the producer price of cocoa to reflect changes in international cocoa prices.<\/p>\n
According to the IMF, the downward adjustment had become necessary because the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) was grappling with a funding gap of GH\u00a21 billion due to the government\u2019s inability to reduce producer prices paid to cocoa farmers at a time global prices of the crop had been falling.<\/p>\n
In its seventh and eighth review documents under the recently concluded Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Programme, the IMF explained that the adjustment was needed to save COCOBOD from expanding the financing gap.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state-owned cocoa marketing company (COCOBOD) is also experiencing difficulties,\u201d the IMF said in one of the documents that were released this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cCOCOBOD faces an estimated financing gap of GH\u00a21 billion (0.3 per cent of gross domestic product) in the current crop year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn (IMF) staff\u2019s view, producer prices should be adjusted to reflect changes in international cocoa prices,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The fund said although the government and COCOBOD were taking appropriate measures to provide some temporary relief, \u201cmore is needed to strengthen COCOBOD\u2019s financial position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cocoa prices<\/b><\/p>\n
Before the commencement of a cocoa season, mostly in October every year, COCOBOD normally announces a farmgate price \u2013 the producer price \u2013 that it will pay to farmers for their beans in the crop season.<\/p>\n
That price was last increased by 11.76 per cent in October 2016 to cover the 2016\/2017 season. Since then, it has remained unchanged at GH\u00a27,600 per tonne, translating into GH\u00a2475 per bag of 64 kilogramme (kg) gross weight.<\/p>\n
Within the same period, however, the price of cocoa on the international market suffered a tumultuous fall, dropping from an average of US$2,500 per tonne in November 2016 before ending that year at US$2,287 per tonne, according to the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO).<\/p>\n
The price of cocoa remained bearish throughout 2017, rising only in October before falling again to end December at US$1,917.68 per tonne, according to the world cocoa body.<\/p>\n
In 2018, ICCO\u2019s data showed that prices strengthened consistently to peak at US$2,659.9 per tonne in May before fluctuating throughout the remaining part of the year.<\/p>\n
The Bloomberg Terminal, which also tracks global prices of the crop, quoted it at US$2,245 per tonne on the morning of April 25.<\/p>\n
Explicit support<\/b><\/p>\n
Thus, maintaining the price at GH\u00a27,600 per tonne at a time the global cocoa price was crashing means that COCOBOD has been accumulating losses, a development the IMF now estimates at GH\u00a21 billion.<\/p>\n
In August 2018, the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, said: \u201cIf we are getting high prices for our cocoa on the international market, our farmgate price should be high.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are getting less, we should pay less. The government needs to be firm on this so as not to create a debt gap,\u201d he said in a media interview.<\/p>\n
That notwithstanding, the farmgate price was maintained at GH\u00a27,500 in October that year.<\/p>\n
The IMF averred in its documents that the government had continuously maintained the price to support \u201cfarmers\u2019 incomes\u2014a key priority of the government to prevent loss of farmland to illegal mining.\u201d<\/p>\n
It, however, explained that that kind of support could come in the form of \u201cexplicit budget transfers.\u201d<\/p>\n
It noted that the government and COCOBOD were \u201cpursuing a series of cost-saving measures in an effort to close the gap.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn staff\u2019s view, while these measures may provide some temporary relief, more is needed to strengthen COCOBOD\u2019s financial position,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
BoG debt<\/b><\/p>\n
On March 19, COCOBOD raised US$300 million \u2013 equivalent to GH\u00a21.6 billion at the time (US$1 to GH\u00a25.2) \u2013 from a consortium of international banks to repay \u201ccocoa bills raised by Bank of Ghana on behalf of COCOBOD,\u201d a statement from the board said at the time.<\/p>\n
The funds were also to be used to finance production enhancement programmes, it said.<\/p>\n
COCOBOD\u2019S Chief Executive Officer, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, said at the time that a loan would go a long way to help in carrying out COCOBOD\u2019s sustainability programmes in all cocoa regions to enhance the social and environmental sustainability of cocoa farming and also improve the livelihood of farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business News of Friday, 26 April 2019 Source: Graphic.com.gh 2019-04-26 Joseph Boahen Aidoo, CEO of COCOBOD The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the government to adjust the producer price of cocoa to reflect changes in international cocoa prices. According to the IMF, the downward adjustment had become necessary because the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":600695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-610473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
Adjust cocoa price downwards - IMF advises government - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Adjust cocoa price downwards - IMF advises government - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Business News of Friday, 26 April 2019 Source: Graphic.com.gh 2019-04-26 Joseph Boahen Aidoo, CEO of COCOBOD The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the government to adjust the producer price of cocoa to reflect changes in international cocoa prices. According to the IMF, the downward adjustment had become necessary because the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\"},\"headline\":\"Adjust cocoa price downwards – IMF advises government\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-26T13:57:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":716,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/\",\"name\":\"Adjust cocoa price downwards - IMF advises government - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-26T13:57:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/26\\\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Adjust cocoa price downwards - IMF advises government - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Adjust cocoa price downwards - IMF advises government - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Business News of Friday, 26 April 2019 Source: Graphic.com.gh 2019-04-26 Joseph Boahen Aidoo, CEO of COCOBOD The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the government to adjust the producer price of cocoa to reflect changes in international cocoa prices. According to the IMF, the downward adjustment had become necessary because the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) […]","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036"},"headline":"Adjust cocoa price downwards – IMF advises government","datePublished":"2019-04-26T13:57:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/"},"wordCount":716,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/","name":"Adjust cocoa price downwards - IMF advises government - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2019-04-26T13:57:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/26\/adjust-cocoa-price-downwards-imf-advises-government\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/#\/schema\/person\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Joseph](\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/03\/19127638.295.jpg\" "\\"Joseph")
Joseph Boahen Aidoo, CEO of COCOBOD<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n