Anambra State Government has debunked a report by a National Daily, that the Anambra State Government wants to borrow N245 billion to finance its 2024 budget, describing it as false and fallacious.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo disclosed on Tuesday at the governor’s lodge Amawbia, while being quizzed by newsmen on the alleged plan to borrow.
The report published by the Daily Trust alleged that 21 states have expressed intentions to borrow a total sum of N1.650 trillion from both internal and external sources to fund their 2024 budget deficits.
It listed the states and their borrowing plans to include the Adamawa State N68.46 billion; Anambra N245 billion; Bauchi, N59.08 billion; Bayelsa, N64 billion; Benue, N34.69 billion; Borno, N41.71 billion; Ebonyi, N20.5 billion; Edo, N42.71 billion and Ekiti State, N27.15 billion.
Others are Jigawa, N1.78 billion; Kaduna, N150.1 billion, Kebbi, N36.7 billion; Katsina, N163.87 billion; Kogi, N37.08 billion; Kwara, N30.76 billion; Osun, N12.36 billion; Oyo, N133.4 billion; Nasarawa, N32.93 billion; Gombe, N73.75 billion; Enugu, N103 billion and Imo, N271.34 billion.
But, while reacting to the reports, Governor Soludo made it clear that his government has not borrowed any money since its inception.
Insisting that no such amount was intended to be borrowed, Soludo recalled how he had been presented with various options but he had consistently turned them down.
“The report about Anambra planning to borrow N245 billion to fund the 2024 budget is fake news, and I don’t know where they got that story from.
“I just spoke with my commissioner for finance and other people and there are no such plans that we know of.
“Let’s be clear, this administration under my watch has a particular view about borrowing, and we have very stringent criteria for it.
“In 2022, the State House of Assembly approved borrowing N100 billion for a supplementary budget, and to this moment, we have not borrowed a kobo of that amount.
“Last year, 2023, we had an implicit budget deficit of about N90 billion, but we did not borrow a kobo for that, and this year we have a deficit of about N121 billion, and we have not borrowed a kobo for that either.
“So, I don’t know where this information is coming from,” Soludo said.
The governor, while explaining that borrowing in itself is not a bad idea, as government funds have continued to dwindle, said the view of his government is that until it finds a bankable project that has verified details of how returns on investment will be made, it will not borrow a dime.
“Let’s make it clear that I have a specific view about borrowing. Every enterprise, whether private or public, that wants to scale up activities must consider the funds, the options, the opportunities, the cost of those funds, and the time value for money.
“It might make sense to borrow today to provide goods and services, and tomorrow the economy will generate resources to pay back.
“The reason is simple, we are working on projects and Programmes that will be bankable. We insist on borrowing only for bankable projects that have a high probability of generating returns to repay the debt,” he said.
Highlighting instances to substantiate his administration’s position on borrowing, Soludo recalled that recently there was a publication about states receiving N438 billion from the World Bank, and Anambra State was not on the list because the state deliberately opted out of that loan.
