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Former Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo has contested claims that Ghana could be declared a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) due to the way the economy is being managed by the current administration. He argued that Ghana as a middle income country would not meet HIPC's threshold requirements of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Osafo Maafo added that the HIPC initiative is to provide debt relief and low-interest loans to very poor countries in the world and Ghana is not inclusive. Ghana under the erstwhile Kufuor administration in 2001 joined HIPC and received various funds under the arrangement for poverty alleviation and infrastructural development.National Democratic Congress (NDC) then in opposition condemned the Kufuor government for going HIPC. But years down the line, concerns have been raised about Ghana�s current debt stock which according to some economic experts could slip the country back into HIPC. The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) which agrees with the position attributed the economic crisis to government�s overspending in the last four years which it claims has increased the country�s total debt to GH GHC35 billion.