COCOBOD's invitation to holders to voluntarily exchange their short-term cocoa bills for fresh ones is just another haircut, according to Director of Business Operations at Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson.

This, in his opinion, is yet another example of the government's inability to cover its expenses.

He clarified that the government is using the call to exchange as a means of spreading out the maturities that are due in August over a five-year period because it is unable to pay them off by the due dates.

“Just like we did with domestic bonds, the government and COCOBOD have come up to say, we can’t pay our bills. Remember that the last Cocoa Bill was issued in February 2023 at a rate of 32.22 percent per annum and this was supposed to have been paid in August, but it will not be paid and any interest and the principal will be rolled up into one figure,” he was quoted by citinewsroom.com.

The payment of both principal and interest will be done starting in 2024 through to 2028.

“Let’s say you have Cocoa Bills worth GH¢68 and interest worth about GH¢32 which adds up to GH¢100, 5 percent of that will be paid in 2024, 20 percent in 2025, 25 percent in 2026, 25 percent in 2027, and 25 percent in 2028 which means that the monies that you should have received this year plus interest, will be spread over the five years starting in 2024. This is another haircut,” he elaborated.

Joe Jackson however blamed the Ghana COCOBOD for the default of its bills.“This is truly a COCOBOD problem. COCOBOD has badly managed its affairs, and it hasn’t even published its accounts since 2020, and it is the one that took the money supposedly to purchase cocoa but unfortunately doing other things that are not in its original remit,” he lamented.

While many have bemoaned COCOBOD's high employee size, the organization's operations have received a number of critiques.

The corporation invited owners of its short-term debt securities (cocoa bills) to swap them for longer-term debt securities on July 14, 2023.

“COCOBOD is offering Eligible Holders accrued and unpaid interest (“Accrued Interest Payable”) on their Eligible Bills validly tendered and accepted by the COCOBOD, calculated from and including the last interest payment date up to, but excluding, the Settlement Date, which amount will be paid to such Eligible Holders in the form of capitalized interest (rounded down to the nearest GHS1.00) added to the principal amount of the New Bonds and distributed across the New Bonds in the same proportion as the Exchange Consideration Ratios (as defined),” parts of the release read.