THE NSW Liberal Party could be forced to borrow almost the entire cost of its election campaign with donations running dry.

Party sources have told The Sunday Telegraph the party has “less than half a million” dollars in its central campaign fund, with one source alleging the figure was as low as $70,000.

One senior party official said “around one million” dollars was spread around the state conferences, of which around one-third was headed to the party election coffers.

However, the figure is still far less than the estimated $6 million the party wants specifically to throw at its marginal seats in the lead up to the March state election.

Concerns were recently raised by the party’s executive at the prospect it could possibly be forced to hand back up to $500,000 of donations linked to the party’s controversial slush fund Eight by Five if the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) makes an adverse finding.

The predicament has been blamed in part on the change of leadership, with a fundraising program put in place under former premier Barry O’Farrell scrapped following his resignation in the wake of “Grange-gate”.

It is understood a replacement program with new NSW Premier Mike Baird has yet to be implemented.

The ban on accepting ­developer donations — ­together with increasing scrutiny of donors and general apathy among MPs to host fundraisers under the shadow of ICAC — have been blamed for the trend.

A party official said although it had borrowed for past campaigns, it had always been “less than $2 million”.

“It is so hard to raise money right now, and there is an exposure to the party because of what might happen with ICAC,” the official said.

The official added: “There is around $1 million raised around the conferences for local campaigns.

“But we also need around $3 million for print, editorial and TV and another $50,000 for brochures.”

The NSW government is considering adopting a publicly funded election campaign model, but it will be too late for the upcoming election, with the committee charged with examining the merits of the proposal only to report back to Mr Baird at the end of the year.