Power shortages in South Africa has curbed economic growth by as much as 10%, while also preventing mass employment opportunities.<\/p>\n
This is according to Dawie Roodt, chief economist at Efficient Group, and reported by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
Roodt said that the country’s estimated economic expansion of 2% this year could have been at least 1 percentage point higher had it not been for load shedding.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019d had enough electricity since 2007 and it was not a limiting factor, the economy could have been about 10% bigger than it actually was by the end of 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is more than 300 billion rand ($25.3 billion), or more than a million job opportunities,\u201d the economist said.<\/p>\n
A presentation by the department of public enterprises to parliament at the end of March said that power cuts implemented by Eskom cost South Africa\u2019s economy between $1.7 billion (R20 billion) and $6.8 billion (R80.1 billion) a month.<\/p>\n
Roodt said late last year that Eskom\u2019s blackouts had cost South Africa as much as R300 billion since 2008.<\/p>\n
Eskom has been forced into rolling blackouts in 2015 following the collapse of one of its coal storage silos, diesel shortages, and maintenance issues.<\/p>\n
Leadership issues also continue to plague the power utility following the sacking of chairman, Zola Tsotsi<\/span>, and the suspension of Eskom\u2019s CEO, Tshediso Matona, and three other senior executives including the financial director.<\/p>\n ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe recently described Eskom\u2019s inability to keep the lights on as \u201ca positive crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a crisis of demand exceeding supply. That is a positive crisis,\u201d Mantashe told Power FM<\/a>.<\/p>\n Eskom load shedding warning amid cold weather<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Eskom a \u201cpositive crisis\u201d: ANC<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Eskom<\/h3>\n