The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is taking over part of the debts of the city of Xanten and other cities and municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia. As the Ministry of Municipal Affairs explained in a statement before Christmas, a total of 167 municipalities will be relieved of “excessive liquidity loans” in order to give them “new financial scope for action”. This means they would have to spend less money on interest and repayment and their equity would be strengthened.
The ministry’s announcement shows that the state is relieving the 167 municipalities of “at least 41.1 percent of their excessive liquidity loans”. In the case of the city of Xanten, NRW is assuming debts amounting to almost 5.8 million euros. This is 41.1 percent of the “excessive liabilities to secure liquidity” that the city of Xanten had on December 31, 2023, the ministry explained. Accordingly, these liabilities of the city of Xanten totaled almost 14.1 million euros at the end of 2023. Cities and municipalities secure their short-term liquidity needs with liquidity loans, previously also known as cash loans. They are comparable to overdrafts for private individuals. Cities and municipalities also have investment loans. According to details from the treasury from December 2025, Xanten had schools worth a total of around 48.7 million euros at the end of 2023.
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