The Government agreed today to cancel the debt owed to Norway by the Republic of Ghana, NOK 8 million.

The agreement with Ghana is based on two multilateral framework agreements concluded in the Paris Club, which is a joint forum for creditor countries, in May 2002 and July 2004, respectively. On the former occasion, the Paris Club decided to grant debt relief to Ghana in accordance with the international Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, known as the HIPC initiative. Ghana has met its HIPC requirements, and the country’s NOK 8 million remaining debt to Norway will therefore be cancelled.

In keeping with the Norwegian Plan of Action on Debt Relief for Development, the debt will be cancelled without taking any funds from the budget. Thus, the debt relief will not affect other assistance to poor countries, but will be a supplement to it.

Ghana is the third country to have its entire debt to Norway cancelled. Benin and Tanzania were the first two.