Monday, August 04, 2008
It was all fanfare when Ghana qualified for debt relief under the Highly Indebted and Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) in 2004. A state banquet was even organised to celebrate our qualification, as fondly reminisced in an article here. It seemed declaring one’s poverty status was the only option left for the managers of the economy at the time, and more so when there was a reward. The following year saw 80% of our $5.2bn debt cancelled. However, four years on Ghana seems to have nearly doubled its 2004 debt.