By The Minority in Parliament has expressed serious apprehensions regarding the possible collapse of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) owing to its significant debts to banks. They point out that COCOBOD’s 2024 budget predicts a substantial loss of 2.6 billion Ghana Cedis, raising concerns about potential defaults on loan payments.
After President Nana Akufo-Addo’s State of the Nation Address earlier this week, Eric Opoku, the Minority Spokesperson on the Food, Agriculture, and Cocoa Affairs Committee of Parliament, expressed his concerns about the worsening condition of COCOBOD in an interview with Citi News.
Opoku expressed concern about COCOBOD’s financial distress, stating, “Do you know in this country where COCOBOD is in distress? Is choked by debts? COCOBOD has been taking loans from the banks and they are unable to pay?”
Challenging President Akufo-Addo’s statement in his State of the Nation Address that rice importation into Ghana declined from 2021 to 2023, Eric Opoku argued, “The President created an erroneous impression that importation of rice in Ghana has been on the decline. That is not true.”
Furthermore, Opoku highlighted the challenges faced by workers, revealing that approximately 35,000 employees of the Produce Buying Company (PBC) are now unemployed due to the collapse of the firm.
