Ghana risks repeating post-HIPC debt mistakes – Prof Bokpin

‘Within three years, the fiscal space was dissipated’ Professor Bokpin said the fiscal space created by the HIPC-related debt relief was not sustained, warning that Ghana could repeat the same pattern if the current gains are not managed prudently.

Economist Professor Godfred Bokpin has warned that Ghana risks repeating the mistakes that followed the country’s debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) programme if the government fails to properly manage the fiscal space created by recent debt restructuring and expenditure controls.

According to Professor Bokpin, the improved fiscal position was one of the reasons Ghana sought to move away from its dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under former President John Agyekum Kufuor.