The Kwara state Governor, Mall AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq yesterday said the increase in the state debt profile was due to new declaration of the MSMEDF loan taken by the last administration which was not captured in the June publication.
Responding to a publication of THE INFORMANT247 over the debt profile rise, the Governor’s spokesperson, Rafiu Ajakaye said that AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has “not taken any loan since he assumed office in May last year”, but the rise was due to an undeclared loan taken by the last administration.
He said, “This administration has not taken any loan whatsoever. The rise in the domestic debt profile of the state to the tune of N2bn, as contained in the latest report of the Debt Management Office, was as a result of under-reporting of the debt profile as at June 2019.
“The rise of the debt profile from N61,335,531,821.69 in the second quarter to N63,177,349,538.89 in the third quarter — a difference of approximately N2bn — was because the N2bn Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) loan, which was long taken and spent by the last administration, was never declared to the Debt Management Office (DMO) until the third quarter of 2019. So the rise of the state’s debt profile was simply because of this new declaration of the MSMEDF loan taken by the last administration.
“While this administration has not taken any loan, it has indeed been servicing those inherited from the past administration, including the N2bn MSMEDF loan and the N17.569bn Budget Support Facility which repayments only started in July and September 2019 respectively. These loans are being deducted from source by the Federal Government.”
Recall that THE INFORMANT247 has reported that the Kwara state Debt profile has rise from N61.3 billion as of June 30, 2019 to a total debt profile of N63.1 billion in September 30th, 2019.
