Finance Minister Tito Mboweni did not unveil a debt-relief plan for struggling power utility Eskom in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, announcing instead that any debt restructuring would be negotiated only once the utility had reduced costs and made unbundling progress. The total cost of Eskom’s yearly debt and interest payments will average R85-billion over the coming three years and the National Treasury acknowledges in the MTBPS that Eskom’s R441-billion debt portfolio as of March 31, 2019, is “well beyond what it can afford to hold without government support”. Eskom’s debt has risen beyond R450-billion during the period since the end of March.
