External debt incurred by Ghana after the 20th of June 1999 including the recently contracted 220 million dollar World Bank loan will not benefit from relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The cut off date point set out for Ghana under the initiative is 20th June 1999 and debt incurred before that date will be written off under HIPC.

This means that about 66 percent of debt owed by the country will be forgiven when Ghana reaches the decision point. By the completion point, 90 percent of the debt would have been affected by HIPC conditionalities. The ten percent remainder of the debt will then have to be taken care of by Ghana.

But Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo says about eight of the country's major creditors have expressed interest in writing off the entire debt owed them and covered under the cut off point date. This means that Ghana will not have to pay the ten per cent debt as required under the HIPC conditions.

The Finance Minister was concerned about the quantum of the country's revenue, which he said is below the needed requirement to service the country's domestic debt. He attributed the situation to tax evasion and stressed the need for a serious look at the revenue base.