This archive report was first published on 10 May 2021.
On May 10, 2021, the Treasury revealed that Equity Bank Kenya and Co-operative Bank were among five financial institutions owing the State more than Sh1 billion in outstanding loans.
According to a report tabled in the National Assembly on April 29, 2021, Equity Bank had Sh493.47 million outstanding out of the Sh654.3 million loans it had received, while Co-operative Bank had loan arrears amounting to Sh287.42 million out of Sh417.86 million it was advanced.
The two top-tier lenders, together with three micro-financiers, owed the government nearly Sh1.03 billion, the Treasury said without disclosing the time or purpose for which it lent the cash.
Kenya Women Finance Trust topped the three deposit-taking micro-financiers which owed taxpayers money with an outstanding debt of Sh100.56 million out of Sh241.33 million it had taken out.
The five lenders are listed amongst parastatals and other state-controlled organisations which had paid a measly Sh40.05 billion, or 4.42 percent, of the Sh907.06 billion they borrowed from the government.
Kenya Railway Corporation, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), and electricity distributor Kenya Power held the bulk of the loans, partly as a result of mega government-sponsored projects they have undertaken in recent years.
Outstanding loans to the loss-making Kenya Railways were captured at Sh473.21 billion, or 54.58 percent of the Sh867 billion total state loans to parastatals and other organisations as at June 2020.
