JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI (AP) -- Missouri has paid $23 million in interest to the federal government to cover loans for its unemployment benefits.

Missouri owes about $725 million on money it's borrowed since February 2009 to cover unemployment payments. During that period, Missouri's unemployment rate climbed above 9 percent before dipping to 8.8 percent in August.

The state's businesses have been assessed an additional charge to recoup the federal interest costs. Businesses also will have to make up the $725 million the state borrowed from the federal government.

Missouri's situation is not unique. More than half the states have started paying interest on billions of dollars of unemployment benefit loans from the federal government. The interest charges had been delayed for two years by the 2009 federal economic stimulus legislation.

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