Eskom ‘encouraged’ by revised outlook
Eskom says it views an improved credit outlook as a positive
reinforcement of its efforts to improve liquidity.
International credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), announced on Friday afternoon that it has revised Eskom’s outlook to stable from negative.
The agency also affirmed Eskom’s foreign and local currency long-term credit ratings of ‘CCC+’ and the long and short-term national scale ratings of ‘zaB’ and ‘zaB’.
Eskom’s Chief Financial Officer, Calib Cassim, said in a statement: “We view this decision as a positive reinforcement of the strides that we have made to improve Eskom’s liquidity position. The moderately improved liquidity will allow us the flexibility to focus on continuing to secure the funding required for the FY19/20 and stabilise Eskom’s security of supply.”
The S&P decision follows the announcement Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in his national budget speech that government will extend a provisional support package to Eskom, totalling R69 billion over a three-year period to 2022.
According to Eskom, it has to date secured 95% of its R72 billion funding requirement for FY18/19 and 35% of the company’s indicative R48 billion funding requirement for FY19/20.
Meanwhile, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), is expected to announce its decision on Eskom's electricity tariff increase application on Thursday.
Eskom applied for a 45% increase over three years.