Under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative Mrs. Alphecca Muttardy, the IMF Resident Representative in Ghana, issued the following statement on December 22 in Accra:

"Under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, the IMF Executive Board has approved debt relief for Ghana (see Press Release No 05/286). As part of the Initiative, the IMF will provide 100 percent relief on all debt incurred by Ghana to the IMF before January 1, 2005 that remains outstanding. This amounts to approximately US$381 million, or US$316 million excluding remaining assistance under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. This debt relief should become available in early January as soon as the remaining consents of the contributors to the PRGF Trust Subsidy Account have been received. The international community has made these additional resources available to help Ghana make progress toward its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"Ghana has qualified for IMF debt relief because of its overall satisfactory recent macroeconomic performance, progress in poverty reduction, and improvements in public expenditure management. In particular, Ghana has enjoyed relatively strong economic growth with significant reduction in the rate of inflation in the past three years. Moreover, the government has established a good record of implementing the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), and it has improved public expenditure management systems, freeing up resources for growth enhancing and poverty reducing spending. Performance in these areas provides assurance that resources made available under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative will be used effectively.

"The IMF looks forward to working with Ghana to help it develop a strong and stable economy and to make sustained progress toward the MDGs," she said.

IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT Public Affairs: 202-623-7300 - Fax: 202-623-6278 Media Relations: 202-623-7100 - Fax: 202-623-6772