The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr. John Kwakye, has blamed the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for the financial crisis the cocoa regulator finds itself in.

In a tweet, Economist Dr. Kwakye said it’s inconceivable that COCOBOD is in financial crisis when it is supposed to be self-financing.

“It’s inconceivable that COCOBOD is in financial crisis when it is supposed to be self-financing? In any case, what is it doing with the huge windfall gain from the sharp exchange rate depreciation”.

“Their administrative and related costs need to be cut drastically”, he added”.

Auditor General directs COCOBOD to recover ¢2.25bn government debt

The 2021 Auditor General’s Report charged Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to engage the Ministry of Finance to recover ¢2.25 billion that the government owed the cocoa regulator as of September 30, 2020.

This was because of supply of cocoa beans to Genertec International Corporation (GIC), government’s revenue support on producer price of cocoa and excess export duties paid by the COCOBOD for GIC on cocoa beans exported.

The report also noted that COCOBOD has relatively huge loans portfolio totalling ¢12.301 billion as of the end of the 2019/2020 financial year.

This comes despite recording a record a little over one million metric tonnes of cocoa in the 2020/2021 crop season.

Dr. Kwakye said “COCOBOD needs to get its act together. It can’t be facing financial crisis when it is making windfall gain from the sharp exchange rate depreciation, a gain that is not being shared with farmers”.

COCOBOD Posted net loss of¢42m in 2020

COCOBOD posted a net loss of ¢42.14 million in 2020 compared to a net profit of ¢1.478 billion in 2019, a 102.85% decline.

This was largely due to the impact of Covid-19 on production of cocoa beans and its purchases.

According to the 2020 State Ownership Report, net profit margin was 0.24% compared to the net profit margin of 0.20 percent in 2019.