Development and the Debt Trap Economic Planning and External Borrowing in Ghana Routledge Library Editions: Development Series

Ghana is one of the earliest and most serious examples of the build up of foreign debt by a developing country to support its policies for economic growth. This study, first published in 1974 in conjunction with the Overseas Development Institute, analyses Ghana?s economy over twenty years and highlights the problems of the debtor/creditor relationship between developed and developing countries.

The study concludes with an assessment of the creditors? contribution to Ghana?s critical debt position through their readiness to supply funds without adequately analysing the viability of the programmes they supported and through the repayment and interest terms they offered ? terms which were too heavy for Ghana to meet.

1. Introduction 2. The Root of the Problem: Economic and Political Conditions and Objectives in the Decade Before Independence 3. The Transition from Financial Self-Reliance to External Dependence, 1957-1961 4. The Plunge into Insolvency (1962-65) 5. The Nkrumah Legacy 6. Post-Nkrumah Efforts at Rehabilitation and Debt Settlement 7. Summary and Lessons