Moody’s gives Eskom first positive outlook in 15 years

International ratings agency, Moody’s, has changed Eskom’s outlook to positive, the first time Moody’s has done this in 15 years.

This comes after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced last week that government would take a portion of Eskom’s debt onto its balance sheet.

He did not specify in his Medium-Term Budget how much of the Eskom’s debt the government would take.

Treasury is in the process of creating a debt relief programme for the struggling state-owned power utility.

Godongwana says government is doing all it can to address the electricity problem. He was speaking at a Chamber of Commerce and Industry lunch in Sandton following his budget speech last week.

“Electricity has been a problem. We have been trying to fix Eskom for 14 years … not to fix power to the grid, those two things are different. Now, whatever macro economy pose, you can have any good macro -economic policy. If you can’t have electricity, simply the economy won’t move. No doubt about that.”

Massive organised crime at Eskom