§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he expects Ghana to receive benefit from being a qualifier for highly indebted poor country debt relief; and if he will make a statement. [137688]
§ Hilary BennGhana qualified for relief under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in February 2002, when it started to receive debt relief. Under the Initiative, countries qualify for relief in two stages. The first stage is Decision Point, when they start to receive interim relief on their "flow" of payments. During this interim period, countries such as Ghana are not required to service their debt and cease to make debt service payments. The second stage, Completion Point, is reached when HIPC governments have demonstrated progress in tackling poverty. At this final stage they receive an irrevocable reduction in their stock of debt. HIPC countries spend the savings from debt relief on their poverty reduction programmes, thereby increasing resources for social expenditure. Ghana is expected to reach its Completion Point in mid 2004, provided its poverty reduction strategy is implemented satisfactorily.