Zimbabwe clears power debt

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s state power utility has cleared its outstanding debt with its counterparts in neighbouring South Africa and the Congo and is now able to pay in advance for its imports, a senior official said.

Zimbabwe imports 35 per cent of its electricity from South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but has battled to pay for imports as a result of biting foreign currency shortages. The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has struggled to repair power generation equipment over the foreign currency crunch, leading to frequent power cuts that have disrupted industrial production as the southern African country battles its worst economic crisis in decades.But on Friday the official Herald newspaper quoted ZESA spokesman Obert Nyatanga as saying the utility had cleared outstanding debts of US$25 million to South Africa’s Eskom and US$30 million to Hydroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique after receiving funding from the central bank.Nyatanga said Zimbabwe was importing 650 megawatts of electricity each week from Eskom, HCB and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Snel at between 22 and 25 million rand.”The money is enough to cater for electricity importation and we actually pay it in advance and at the moment we do not have any debts arising from power importation,” Nyatanga said.- Nampa-ReutersThe Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has struggled to repair power generation equipment over the foreign currency crunch, leading to frequent power cuts that have disrupted industrial production as the southern African country battles its worst economic crisis in decades.But on Friday the official Herald newspaper quoted ZESA spokesman Obert Nyatanga as saying the utility had cleared outstanding debts of US$25 million to South Africa’s Eskom and US$30 million to Hydroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) of Mozambique after receiving funding from the central bank.Nyatanga said Zimbabwe was importing 650 megawatts of electricity each week from Eskom, HCB and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Snel at between 22 and 25 million rand.”The money is enough to cater for electricity importation and we actually pay it in advance and at the moment we do not have any debts arising from power importation,” Nyatanga said.- Nampa-Reuters