Osun State Government has once again denied reports that it was planning to obtain a new loan.

The state government clarified that the increase in Osun State’s monthly foreign loan repayment was not due to any new borrowing by the current administration. Kolapo Alimi, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, made this statement on Tuesday in Osogbo, in response to a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report that ranked Osun State 10th in terms of high debt service payments. The NBS report noted that Osun’s external debt service costs rose to N3.4 billion in 2024 from N1.57 billion in 2023, a 116 percent increase. Alimi attributed the rise in repayments to the current exchange rate between the Naira and the US Dollar.
Alimi said, “The public would kindly recall that repayment on foreign loans is usually done based on the prevailing exchange rate of the local currency (Naira) to the US Dollar.

“It is also important to put on record that Osun State was plunged into high local and foreign indebtedness in the 12 years of APC government in the state.

“As the repayment is done in line with the prevailing rate, there is an increase in the naira value of monthly loan repayment on the foreign loans portfolio of all the states of the federation.

The inevitable increase, therefore, is not only peculiar to Osun, rather, it applies to all the states and the Federal Government. The public is assured that the state financial management is responsible and sustainable without any new indebtedness.”