Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative

The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative is the first international response to provide comprehensive debt relief to the world's poorest, most heavily indebted countries. The HIPC Initiative was launched by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1996, and was further expanded in late 1998 (Enhanced HIPC Initiative).

Under the HIPC Initiative, the World Bank and IMF Boards first decide whether or not a country is eligible for debt relief (decision point document). In a second step, all creditors (multilateral, bilateral, and commercial) commit debt relief to be delivered at a "floating" completion point. In between those steps, the country tries to implement the policies determined at the decision point (which are triggers to reaching the completion point). 

Ghana and the HIPC Initiative

On July 13, 2004, The IMF and the World Bank agreed that Ghana had taken the necessary steps to reach its completion point under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Ghana became the 14^th country to reach this point, joining Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guyana, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. Read more...