The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr John Kwakye has welcomed the decision of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to wean itself off syndicated loans. To him, the syndicated loan idea was flawed, a situation that required thinking outside the box to fund cocoa purchases. His comments come at a time when the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo announced that, for the first time in three decades, the organization would not secure offshore syndicated loans to finance the purchase of cocoa beans for the 2024/2025 crop season. Targeting the purchase of around 650,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans, COCOBOD stated that it plans to finance the procurement entirely from its internal operations. He told a media briefing that the Board had decided to finance the purchases domestically. "Within two years, we've learned our lessons, and we think that it's high time, we wean ourselves from the offshore international financial markets and finance the crop ourselves here.