Africa Energy: South Africa Eskom bailout could reach over US10billion

(Reuters) – A bailout for struggling South African state utility Eskom could reach as much as 150 billion rand ($10.79 billion) over 10 years, a senior National Treasury official told Reuters.

The Treasury said on Wednesday that it would provide Eskom with 69 billion rand of financial support over three years.

But Ian Stuart, a senior official at the budget office, told Reuters that Treasury had included in its national debt-to-GDP projections a further 23 billion rand of annual support to Eskom after that three-year period.

The final amount of support would depend on factors including economic growth, demand for electricity and the rate of reorganisation at Eskom, Stuart said. ($1 = 13.8955 rand) (Reporting by Alexander Winning Editing by Joe Brock) source: Reuters.