Ghana receives debt relief boost

The African Development Bank (ADB) has said it will write off four fifths of the money owed to it by Ghana.

The $131m (?90m) debt cancellation came less than a week after a visit to the country by the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Horst Koehler.

The ADB said Ghana was eligible for debt relief under an IMF and World Bank scheme for so-called Heavily Indebted Poor Countries.

"With this reduction, Ghana will be relieved of 80% of its obligations on the annual servicing of its debt to the ADB group," the Development Bank said.

The debt relief scheme aims to relieve poverty in countries committed to economic reforms.

During his visit to Ghana, Mr Koehler said he had been impressed by the turnaround in economic performance over the last year under President John Kufuor.

Mr Koehler praised Mr Kufuor for his success at steering the economy out of a crisis.

On Tuesday, Mr Kufuor inaugurated a National Reconciliation Commission in Ghana, fashioned after similar panels in South Africa and Nigeria, to look into past human rights violations.