Ghana named among World Bank's heavily indebted poor countries

The heavily indebted poor countries' list is a joint initiative by the World Bank and the IMF which was launched in 1996 which aims to ensure that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage.

This debt relief initiative works in such a way that multilateral financial organisations (including the IMF and the World Bank) work in partnership with governments across the world to lower external debts of impoverished countries to sustainable levels.

Out of the 40 countries that are currently on this list, 34 are in Africa and they have a combined population of about 760 million people.

There are a number of other requirements, including an established track record of the capability to grow out of poverty over time.

The IMF listed the full criteria are:

Countries must be eligible to borrow from the World Bank’s International Development Agency.
Only countries facing an unsustainable debt burden that cannot be addressed through traditional debt relief mechanisms can be admitted.
The countries must have established track records of development reforms and sound policies.
They must also have an established poverty reduction strategy paper in place.

Among the heavily indebted poor countries that joined Ghana include Tanzania, Ethiopia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo.

Others are Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome, and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.