A former Finance Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo has explained that Ghana is still enjoying the benefits under the Highly Indebted Poor country Initiative.

According to him, the cocoa producing country being on a list of 36 countries eligible to receive assistance under HIPC does not necessarily mean Ghana has been declared a poor country again but only enjoying the benefits of the first initiative in 2001.

A latest release by the International Monetary Fund stated that Ghana was listed along with 35 countries that includes Afghanistan, Chad, Haiti among others qualified for HIPC.

The HIPC Initiative which was launched in 1996 by the IMF and World Bank and aims at ensuring that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage.

Speaking to Starr News, Mr. Osafo Marfo said HIPC is not a one-time decision but a process adding that some of the debts Ghana was supposed to pay was over a 40-year period.

“Some of our debts were as long as 40 years, and 20 years… so we are enjoying the relief until the last repayment schedule of the debt is relieved. So yes Ghana is among the 36 countries…who continue to receive HIPC benefits.

“And as I speak NDC is enjoying HIPC benefits, anytime there is repayment we are forgiven and it gets back into our accounts,” Mr. Osafo Marfo said.