‘We’ve not been declared HIPC; that’s a fact’ but Mahama has a point – Seth Terkper

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He was the former Finance Minister of the former John Dramani Mahama government, and he said that Ghana has not yet been declared a Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC).

When Bobie Ansah appeared in the show on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, and was asked whether Ghana is now a heavily indebted poor country, Mr. Turkper said: “We have not been declared a heavy Indebted poor countries, because the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Program has actually ended, so yes, you can say that we have not been declared as a heavily indebted poor country.”

He added: “This is true.”

On Monday, October 26, 2020, former President John Mahama, who is also the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, the National Congress of Democracy (NDC), told the different groups of professionals with whom he had communicated in Accra :-“Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Economic Outlook” predicts that the current debt/GDP ratio will reach an alarming 76.7%.

Mr. Mahama “officially” announced that “Ghana will return to heavily indebted poor countries under the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo and Ken Ofori-Atta. ”

Mr. Turkper believes that even if Ghana has neither applied for nor declared a heavily indebted poor country, his former boss still deserves attention.

“… The (previous) president is saying:’Look where we are today’; you can see what he is doing from the narration.”

“And, the way, if we reach the level of 77% the end of the year, or we expect to reach the level of 77% the end of the year, and in the first quarter, you will borrow 5 billion hryvnia (GHS), that will Make you more than 80%.

Mr. Turkper said: “So, I mean, it depends on what we pay at the end of the year, which is 77% of the net amount we gave…”

However, Mr. Turkper clarified: “If I can say that, you can apply for a heavily indebted poor country.”

“So, in terms of the technology we have not yet applied, we are a middle-income country, so let us put it in the background: when we entered the heavily indebted poor countries, we were a developing country; Income countries and developing countries have different measurement methods.