By Fatou Sillah
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Public Accounts (FPAC) has called on the Ministry of Finance to take urgent measures to recover D266,208,476.71 in unpaid loans from state-owned enterprises (SOEs), following the Auditor General’s reports on government accounts from 2021 to 2024.
The reports highlight that several SOEs, including the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) and the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), have defaulted on loan repayments, raising concerns over the adequacy of policies and procedures governing government lending.
Auditors observed that the Ministry of Finance had not conducted sufficient financial and technical assessments to ensure that these entities were capable of repaying their loans.
In response, ministry management stated that frameworks for on-lending and guarantees had been established to guide lending to SOEs, with individual financing agreements prepared in accordance with these frameworks. The ministry further explained that NAWEC and GCAA continue to face serious financial challenges, which have affected their service delivery.
“We intend to convert GCAA’s debt to equity and also cancel NAWEC’s debt,” the ministry said.
Management acknowledged past efforts to recover outstanding debts, noting that NAWEC had made only minimal payments before ceasing repayment entirely. The ministry confirmed it continues to pursue recovery through formal demand notices to the defaulting enterprises.
FPAC members emphasized the need for a comprehensive strategy to address SOE debts, warning that without meaningful reforms and strict enforcement, government-owned enterprises and authorities will remain financially vulnerable.
“Unless we break that, and the only way to break that is to be serious with the reform and look at them and tell them this is possible, this is not possible.”
The committee urged the Ministry of Finance to strengthen oversight of SOEs, ensure timely loan repayments, and implement measures to prevent the accumulation of future debts.
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