For the first time in 32 years, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) will finance the purchase of cocoa beans and its operations domestically. The decision, effective the 2024/2025 cocoa season, means it would finance the purchase of beans locally without the annual syndicated loan. "After 32 years of going for loans offshore to buy cocoa beans, we have taken a bold step not to go for syndicated loan for the 2024/2025 cocoa season," Chief Executive of the COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, told a news conference in Accra on Tuesday. "We want to wean ourselves off offshore funding and be self-financing. Thirty-two years is enough to learn lessons and we have and we think it is time to wean ourselves from offshore funding," he reiterated. The decision, he said was not out of desperation or lack of investor interest in the syndicated loan. By financing the purchase domesti­cally, Mr Aidoo said Ghana would be saving US$150 million in interest pay­ments on the annual syndicated loan. "We are looking for US$1.5 billion this crop season and looking at the interest rates last year, which were over eight per cent, plus the cost, it means that we can save more than US$150 million by the decision not to go off­shore," he noted.