Eskom has signed the R20bn credit lifeline with a consortium of local and international banks that it needed to stay afloat until the end of its financial year, but this was not enough to stave off a ratings downgrade by S&P Global Ratings. The advance, announced on Wednesday, has been under negotiation for months. Bankers were reluctant to lend more funds to the power utility until it had addressed corporate governance breaches. In January, the Public Investment Corporation lent Eskom R5bn as a one-month bridging facility to help it avoid defaulting on its debt. Eskom has come under increasing financial strain as it is completing costly capital investments in new power stations, while electricity sales have declined in a weak economy and its steep tariff hikes over the years have encouraged customers to save energy and find alternative power sources. In December, the National Energy Regulator of SA declined Eskom’s request for a 19.9% tariff increase in 2018-19, granting it only 5....
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