Jubilee 2000 wants HIPC revisited

Jubilee 2000 Africampaign Ghana has called on the government of Ghana to revisit its decision to opt for the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative and rather focus on debt cancellation, reports The Daily Graphic.

According to the organisaiton, a critical examination of the HIPC initiative, not withstanding the benefits of debt relief, shows that it is a calculated attempt by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to divert the issue of total debt cancellation, which it said would be the most appropriate way to revamp the economy of Ghana and for that matter, Africa.

A member of the international body advocating total debt cancellation for developing countries, Mr Kwame Dadzoe, made the call at a news conference on the significance of the just ended meeting of the world's most dominant and powerful economies, known as G-7 group, to the development of Third World countries.

He said it is unfortunate that the country was denied the opportunity to critically examine and consider alternatives to the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) and the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP), which after two decades have exacerbated the country's balance of payment deficit.