Eskom gets nod of confidence
German bank provides $100m loan facility to help with renewables
The clean-up at Eskom has boosted investor sentiment and money has begun to flow back into the troubled state-owned enterprise. Upon securing a $100m loan facility on Friday, the utility has raised 20% of its R72bn funding requirement for the current financial year. Eskom has faced a liquidity crisis since 2017 when financiers would not loan it more money over concerns of poor governance. The utility’s failure is considered the single largest risk to the South African economy. However, a measure of confidence was revived in January when a new board was installed. The $100m loan facility, equivalent to R1.37bn, was extended by KfW, a German development bank, for the integration of renewable energy projects into the national power grid. To date, Eskom has raised almost R15bn since the financial year began in April. But it will have to cater for unbudgeted expenses such as wage hikes. Eskom has an existing partnership with KfW. In 2015, the development bank extended R3.9bn in funding t...
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