Rand Swings to Gains as Investors Assess Eskom’s Full-Year Loss
Rand Swings to Gains as Investors Assess Eskom’s Full-Year Loss
(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s rand swung to gains and benchmark government bonds narrowed declines after Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. reported a full-year loss of 20.7 billion rand ($1.5 billion).
The rand advanced 0.1% to 14.1596 per dollar, after being as much as 0.5% weaker earlier, while yields on 2026 government notes traded at 8.32%. Yields on Eskom’s dollar bonds due February 2025 fell three basis points to 6.26%.
The power company supplies about 95% of South Africa’s electricity and relies on government handouts to remain solvent. The utility’s precarious financial state has now become a national problem, with the government pledging a 128-billion-rand bailout over the next three fiscal years to keep it operating. Additional support for Eskom would likely come at the price of the country’s last remaining investment-grade rating with Moody’s Investors Service as it would widen the fiscal deficit and increase the debt burden.
To contact the reporter on this story: Colleen Goko in Johannesburg at cgoko2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net, Robert Brand, Justin Carrigan
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