The Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo says Ghana cannot come out of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative next year. The Minister was reacting to a recent publication attributed to President Kufuor that Ghana will be out of HIPC by June, next year.

He told JOY FM that when an economy of Ghana’s status accesses HIPC, it has to go through various stages before it will be declared as non-HIPC. Mr Osafo-Maafo explained that the country is currently at the decision point where it gets relief from mainly its bilateral partners.

He said the completion point, which President Kufuor was referring to, is the stage at which the country’s multi-lateral partners will bring in their reserved reliefs. “At the completion point, the relief will come tremendously”, the Finance Minister added.

Mr Osafo-Maafo explained that the country’s ability to get out of the HIPC initiative “will depend on when our debts become sustainable. Since some of our debts go into years, you and I will agree that the more we take the reliefs, the better”, he told JOY FM’s Kofi Abotsie.