Treasury needs to take half of Eskom debt, says Old Mutual
Transferring half of its borrowings could widen SA’s overall debt-to-GDP ratio by up to 2.5 percentage points
The Treasury needs to absorb about half of Eskom’s almost R400bn debt pile to sufficiently lower the power utility’s borrowing costs and put it on a more sustainable long-term financial footing, according to Old Mutual Investment Group (OMIG).
Transferring about R200bn of Eskom’s debt to the national government’s balance sheet is likely to widen SA’s overall debt-to-GDP ratio, which is expected to reach 72.8% in the 2022/2023 fiscal year, by between 2 and 2.5 percentage points. That is according to OMIG chief economist Johann Els, who made the estimate at a media briefing on Tuesday at which he also unveiled a series of economic forecasts for 2022...
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