President John Dramani Mahama has unveiled a radical new economic policy aimed at bolstering Ghana’s self-reliance, announcing that the country will cease relying on foreign loans to finance its annual cocoa purchases and will mandate the local processing of all minerals by the year 2030.
Speaking at the Accra Reset Summit, a high-level side event at the 39th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on Saturday, President Mahama argued that Ghana possesses the financial muscle to fund its own agricultural sector without the stringent conditions that come with external financing.
“One of the key decisions we’ve taken is that we’re going to stop foreign funding for the purchase of our cocoa,” President Mahama declared. “We’re going to raise domestic funds. We have enough Cedis in Ghana to pay for it; we’re going to raise domestic funds and buy our own cocoa.”
He criticized the current practice of collateralizing cocoa beans for foreign loans, which he says stifles local industry. “We don’t need to collateralise the beans. You know the interesting fact, we have the capacity to process 100,000 tonnes of those beans in Ghana, but because the beans are collateralised, we cannot even allocate those beans to the local processors. We have to ship all the beans outside,” he explained.
Addressing the Cocoa Sector Crisis
The President provided context on the recent turmoil in the cocoa sector, detailing how a sharp decline in global prices and an appreciation of the Cedi created a significant financial gap for the state-owned COCOBOD.
He explained that the producer price paid to farmers was set at 70% of the world market price when the international rate was GH¢7,200 per tonne and the exchange rate was GH¢11.50 to the dollar. However, a subsequent drop in the world price to GH¢4,200, combined with the Cedi strengthening to GH¢10.70, has forced the government to absorb substantial losses to protect farmers.
A Broader Agenda for Value Addition
President Mahama framed the cocoa announcement as part of a wider strategy to transform Ghana’s economy through industrialization. He set a firm deadline for the extractive sector, stating, “by 2030, we will not export any raw minerals from Ghana. We will process them here.”
He stressed that this value-addition agenda is crucial for creating opportunities for the nation’s youth and curbing dangerous migration. “That is the only way we can provide opportunities for our young people,” he said. “Our young people are not as patient as our generation. They want to see that progress and prosperity today… That is why the country has that tendency that we need to implement in order that we stop our young people from brazing the dangers of the Sahara and the Mediterranean.”
African Leaders Champion Self-Reliance
The Accra Reset Summit, an initiative launched by President Mahama to advocate for resilient and self-sustaining systems in Africa, also heard from former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. He called on African governments to mobilize the vast internal resources available on the continent, estimated at up to $4 trillion, to finance their own development, while managing funds without corruption or risk.
Obasanjo also urged practical steps toward implementing the African Union’s Free Movement Protocol. He proposed the formation of a “League of African Free Movement Countries,” where willing nations would immediately abolish visa requirements among themselves, and advocated for the increased use of local currencies to boost intra-African trade.
The event was attended by a host of dignitaries, including former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat Wamkele Mene, and key members of Ghana’s new administration.
