Goldman Sachs on Thursday said Severe planned power cuts – termed “load-shedding” – at South Africa’s state-run utility Eskom are expected to shave 0.3 percentage points off first-quarter GDP growth.
Goldman said in London that should the power cuts persist, it could subtract higher percentage off the growth.
“If the current intensity of load-shedding were to persist in 2019, it could subtract up to 0.9 percentage points from annual growth,” Goldman analysts wrote in a note to clients.
Eskom supplies more than 90 per cent of the power in South Africa but has suffered repeated faults at its coal-fired power stations, along with low water levels at hydroelectric plants and diesel shortages.
South Africa’s economy has suffered from some of the worst power cuts in several years and a major challenge for President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The cuts are coming two months before an election at which he will try to reverse a decline in voter support for the African National Congress (ANC).
