Student Loan Agency audit report submitted to Cabinet ...Recommendations made to enable agency to recover balances

Student Loan Agency audit report submitted to Cabinet …Recommendations made to enable agency to recover balances

Jul 23, 2016 News

Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Raphael Trotman.

The audit report on students’ loan that was revealed a few months ago had caused a stir among the populace since the names of several prominent Guyanese including lawyers and politicians had appeared on the List of Defaulters.
Cabinet is now in possession of a report that has the workings of a Parliamentary Sub-Committee which recommends several steps that will be taken to enable the agency to recover loan balances.
This was revealed last Thursday by the Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Raphael Trotman, during the Post-Cabinet Press Briefings.
The Minister stated that the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, during this week, submitted to Cabinet, a report of the Sub-Committee which he chaired. The Committee that was set up to examine the forensic audit reports of the Government’s Student Loan Agency.
In his report, Minister Trotman said that the Sub-Committee recommended a review of the organisational structure and business processes of the agency to make it compliant with auditing and accounting frameworks.
He added that included in the report also, were a number of recommendations for short and medium term measures to streamline the agency and to set “clear” conditions for loan applications.
Interest waivers likely
Trotman subsequently stated that the Government is hoping to be ‘generous’ in the Jubilee year. He indicated that there are considerations for waiving interests, or not insisting on payments. However, more details will be given by Minister Jordan soon.
The Minister was asked if the waivers would be granted even though there was a number of high-profile persons listed as debtors. The Minister responded, “We are not looking at the profile they hold now. We are looking at the fact that they are now students of the Institution known as the University of Guyana and should be treated fairly and equally.”
Meanwhile, commenting also on the approximately 40 audit reports already completed, Trotman said that Cabinet is overwhelmed by the scale of the findings. He added that the Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan and the Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, will be going through those reports, which can be brought forward earlier rather than later.
This process, he said, is ongoing. Within a few weeks, Guyana will see some action.
The forensic audit into the University of Guyana’s Student Loan Agency (SLA) has revealed that from 1994 to May 2015, some 17,567 or 69.4% of 25,335 student loans were deemed delinquent because students were not honouring their indebtedness.
The report stated that during that period, the Government approved $9,489,453,973 through the National Budget. Loans issued during the audit period (academic years 2011-2012 to 2014-2015) amounted to $1,581,422,277 of which $1,432,669,005 was issued to students at Turkeyen Campus and $148,753,272 was issued to students at the Tain Campus.
The total number of students who would have obtained loans up to December 31, 2014 was 25,335 and the total value of the loans was $9,159,644,463. Of the total number of students who have received loans (25,335) 4,713 or 18.6% are recent graduates or are still students; 1,776 or seven per cent were able to repay their loans totalling $679,918,794 including principal and interest.
Five students had their loans written off while 1,278 or five percent have been paying.