Ghana is to enjoy a relief package of up to $200 million annually under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister for Economic Planning and Regional Integration, who disclosed this to the Chronicle, said that the government is expected to utilize the package on a three-year Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy, which takes off next year.
He explained that the ?700 billion earmarked for the Emergency Social Relief Programme (ESRP) launched by President John Agyekum Kufuor last week, constitutes part of the expected HIPC relief. He was reacting to Chronicle enquiries on where government would source the funding to back the programme.
According to Nduom, the launch of the ?700 billion is an attempt by government to fast track efforts to tackle the incidence of poverty in the country. He said the government is taking money already in the system to tackle the high level of poverty in a number of communities, which were identified as having witnessed a worsened poverty pattern in the last few years in a report by the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
He said the ?700 billion is ready, waiting to be distributed. Cash and other inputs would be distributed as part of the ESRP exercise. Beneficiary communities would receive up to ?100 million each. 70% of the recovered amount would be revolved for use by other sectors of the economy.
The other 30%, Nduom explained, would be channelled into the provision of social amenities for the communities. "What do you hope to achieve by the end of this three-year period?, the Chronicle asked.
"We hope to reduce the incidence of poverty, and then the general poverty situation. Today, people whose food expenditure is less than ?700,000 annually are over 40% with the national situation worst in the three northern regions, where over 60% of this category of populace live.
...We want to reduce the number through these interventions, through the overall poverty reduction programme. We want to reduce the number of Ghanaians that are classified as being poor".