- Johannesburg-based newspaper, Business Times has reported that the French government is considering providing financial support to South Africa’s indebted energy utility, Eskom.
The South African government has come up with a plan to restructure loss-making Eskom, which is struggling under R450bn of debt, by unbundling the utility into three separate business entities namely; generation, transmission and distribution.
French ambassador Aurelien Lechevallier told the Business Times that the country was already working on plans to provide the failing power utility with international support. “With our French development agency, we are ready to provide some kind of financial support to assist with the restructuring of Eskom,” Lechevallier said.
International financial support for Eskom will most probably come from a multi-partner loan which includes other European nations and banks, the ambassador added.
“It will not be France alone, it could be France with maybe Germany, maybe with South African development banks, maybe the Brics bank,” he said.
Eskom’s debt, largely caused by gross mismanagement, corruption and malfeasance, cannot be serviced and requires regular government bailouts. Ratings agency, Moody’s, recently implemented further downgrades on Eskom – with a negative outlook. Read more.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
An initiative by French President, Emmanuel Macron, the Africa France Summit will be the largest investment summit of its kind between Africa and France. The theme is ‘Sustainable Cities’ and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, will lead a 30 strong delegation to the summit. There will be over 50 other African heads of state in attendance. It is the first of a kind event combining both the public and private sector in a ‘Sustainable City’ designed exhibition plus summit. It is an Africa/France but also an Africa/Africa summit. The scope and scale is unprecedented.
