• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Kwara debt profile is N30.2bn not N50.2bn – KWSG 

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Contrary to a piece of rumour being peddled around that the Kwara State’s current debt portfolio is N50.2 billion, the total debt of the state now stands at N30,203,632,608.29 with a monthly repayment package of N496,367,109.08.

According to the State government, Kwara debt stood at N31,481,082,712.95 in 2017 and N30,751,665,421.83 at the end of 2018, respectively, but the government’s financial prudence has also reduced the total debt profile to N30.2 billion.

Demola Banu, Commissioner for Finance  who gave the breakdown of the current indebtedness, explained that the N30.2 billion debt profile, includes N15,325,541,483.03 as the balance of the Federal Government restructured loan, N4,002,948,667.07 as salary bailout, excess crude account loan outstanding of N9,324,613,607.52 and vehicle loan balance of N128,916,612.87.

Others are the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) and Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) Agriculture Scheme with respective balances of N646,213,285.03 and N679,233,857.13 as well as International Aviation College loan balance of N96,165,095.64.

While clarifying that the repayment of N496,367,109.08 is deducted from the state’s monthly federal allocation, Banu added that the figure includes a monthly deduction of N39,632,016.56 as repayment for foreign loans obtained by the government in the 1970s.

Banu, explained further that the federal government restructured the state government’s short- and long-term bank loans to reduce monthly repayment, while the state also benefitted from a N5b salary bailout loan in 2015.

Also, the Commissioner stated that the excess crude account loans were federal government-backed bank facilities which served as seed money for the Kwara State Infrastructure Development Fund (IF-K) and payment for ongoing projects in the state while CACS and ABP are state-government guaranteed Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) loans to farmers in the state.

SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin