Ghana is not going HIPC - IMF Clears the way

 IMF 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has discounted reports that Ghana is a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) and could access relief under the HIPC initiative.

It said that Ghana had already received debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and could, therefore, not pursue further relief under the initiative.

In a response to a query by the Daily Graphic, the IMF said Ghana reached its decision point in February 2002 and its completion point in July 2004.

The Daily Graphic had written to the IMF for explanation following reports that Ghana had gone HIPC once again.

But the Fund said, “countries are eligible to benefit from debt relief only once under HIPC and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) framework,” the IMF explained.

Another HIPC possible?

The Daily Graphic sought to find out whether the fund would consider advising Ghana to consider a HIPC debt relief, especially now that the country’s debt to gross domestic product (GDP) was hovering around the 65-75 per cent mark but the IMF answered that Ghana had already had its chance and could not do so again.

With the circumstances regarding the national debt, the IMF said reducing the country’s debt burden and its associated vulnerabilities was a priority.

Government’s plans workable

“The government’s ambitious and front-loaded fiscal consolidation plans, which are on track, aim at bringing the public debt burden gradually down to a more sustainable level,” the IMF posited.

The fund explained that countries that had qualified for irrevocable debt relief under the HIPC/MDRI framework were called post-completion point countries.

Countries that were yet to start the process, it said, were called pre-decision point countries, adding that currently, 36 countries, including Ghana, had reached their completion point under the HIPC/MDRI.



Source: Daily Graphic