Allegations of HIPC will affect the development of Ghana – Kofi Tonto

Former President John Dramani Mahama has said Ghana is back to being a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) under President Akufo-Addo administration.

According to Mr Mahama, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast Ghana’s current rate of borrowing and debt at 76.7 per cent debt to GDP ratio.

This according to Mr Mahama, has brought the nation back to the days of HIPC.

“Contrary to the impression created by Nana Akufo-Addo that he inherited nothing from me and that he inherited a mess, I left him revenue from two new oil fields – the TEN field and ENI Sankofa fields.

“I left him with $270 million in the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund. I left him with more than $207 million in the Stabilisation Fund and about $300 million in the Sinking Fund with which the final payment of the Kufuor euro bond was paid on maturity in 2017,” Mr Mahama said.

But the government has debunked claims that the country has once again been ranked in the category of Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).

Government has described the news as false and fake news.

Speaking on the Happy Morning Show (HMS), Spokesperson for the Nation Building Kofi Tonto, asserted that the trend will not affect the ruling NPP government going into the 2020 general election. “Allegations of HIPC will not affect the NPP. But it’ll affect the development of Ghana so we should tread cautiously. We must treat allegations of Ghana going into HIPC with disdain.”

Kofi Tonto also said that it is impossible for Ghana to go back to HIPC “The HIPC programme was a onetime thing, meaning Ghana can never go into HIPC again.”

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has denied classifying Ghana as a HIPC based on data on its website.

According to the IMF any news to that effect “may be deceptive.”