South Africa allocates extra $4.2 bn for cash-strapped Eskom

CAPE TOWN: The South African government has made an extra 59 billion rand ($4.24 billion) available to state-owned power utility Eskom over the next two years so it can meet its obligations, a special appropriation bill seen by Reuters on Monday showed.

Eskom, which supplies more than 90 percent of the country's electricity but has implemented severe power cuts this year, fails to generate sufficient profit to meet its debt servicing costs and has required state cash injections to stay afloat.

The cash injection, sourced from the government's National Revenue Fund, provides 26 billion rand for the 2019/20 financial year and 33 billion for 2020/21.