California may need an emergency loan of up to $7 billion from the federal government within weeks, the Los Angeles Times on Friday quoted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as saying in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
(Reuters) - California may need an emergency loan of up to $7 billion from the federal government within weeks, the Los Angeles Times on Friday quoted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as saying in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
In the letter dated October 2, Schwarzenegger called for the passage of the $700 billion financial industry bailout plan which the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on Friday, the Times said.
"Absent a clear resolution to this financial crisis, California and other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of financing to maintain government operations and may be forced to turn to the federal treasury for short-term financing," Schwarzenegger wrote in the letter, according to the paper.
A top Schwarzenegger aide followed up the letter with a call to the Treasury secretary on Thursday night, the paper said.
The California governor's office and the U.S. Treasury department could not immediately be reached for comment.
Credit markets worldwide have frozen up in the two weeks since the failure of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, prompting concerns that issuers will run into trouble rolling over previous loans.
In the letter, Schwarzenegger noted California's plans to issue $7 billion in revenue anticipation notes in the coming days to fund short-tern cash needs -- now put in doubt by the crisis in the credit markets.
On Wednesday, California Treasurer Bill Lockyer said the most populous U.S. state's cash reserves may be exhausted near the end of October, and various state-funded services are at risk of grinding to a halt.
He said the planned notes sale was at risk from the uncertainty gripping financial markets and the U.S. government's lack of response to it.
Lockyer, who manages the bonds of the biggest issuer of public debt in the United States, said the credit market was simply frozen because financial institutions were afraid to commit capital amid enormous uncertainty.
"The economic fallout from this national credit crisis continues to drain state tax coffers, making it even more difficult to weather the continuation of frozen credit markets for any length of time. I will continue to do all I can to encourage the passage of the emergency rescue plan," Schwarzenegger wrote.
(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; editing by Patrick Graham and Mohammad Zargham)
