Page 8 - AfrElec Week 49 2022

AfrElec PERFORMANCE AfrElec

SA business activity up in

November despite loadshedding

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH African private sector activity recov- levels continued to fall despite a slight upturn in
ered slightly in November, but output fell for a new orders.
third straight month, weighed down by rolling “Supply chains remained disrupted by load
power cuts (“load shedding”) and port strikes, a shedding (power cuts) and the recent strikes at
survey showed on Monday (December 5). [state-owned rails and ports operator] Transnet,
S&P Global’s South Africa purchasing man- leading to a further sharp lengthening of deliv-
agers’ index (PMI) rose to 50.6 in November ery times. Backlogs were also up, encouraging a
from 49.5 in October, above the 50.0 line that renewed expansion in staffing levels.
divides expansions in activity from contractions. “Companies gave further signals that price
The turnaround was largely due to an increase pressures are easing, particularly on purchase
in new business volumes, with data in November costs which increased at the slowest pace for 15
suggesting a rise in sales for the first time since months. Despite mentions of rising fuel prices,
August. firms were helped by softer commodity prices
“The South Africa PMI was back above the and a weaker impact from the pandemic. Sub-
50.0 neutral mark in November, thereby end- sequently, output charge inflation dropped to
ing a two-month sequence of declining operat- a 13-month low which should help to support
ing conditions in large part due to the national sales growth in the coming months.”
load shedding programme,” commented Half of all surveyed firms predicted output
David Owen, economist at S&P Global Market to expand over the next year, amid expectations
Intelligence. that disruption from power cuts would ease and
“That said, load shedding remained a key fea- price pressures would continue to soften, the
ture of the latest survey and meant that output S&P Global survey said.™

More power cuts in Zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE ZIMBABWE’S electricity generation deficit was “Until now, many in our society thought cli-
further exposed on Thursday (December 8) as mate change was merely academic,” he wrote in
three of its plants were producing 506MW ver- his weekly column in the state-controlled Sun-
sus demand of about 1,800MW, according to the day Mail on December 4.
power utility. “Not anymore after the decision last week by
As a result of the crisis, independent the Zambezi River Authority to drastically limit
weekly The Standard reported on Sunday power generation at Kariba. We are down to a
(December 6), the utility, ZESA Holdings, is mere 300MW. Like us, Zambia, our neighbour
blacking out some areas for as long as 12 hours and partner on Lake Kariba, has had to reduce
daily. The shortage, which emerged in 2007, generation and will embark on load shedding.
worsened on November 25, when Kariba hydro “Live water levels in the lake have fallen pre-
plant halved production due to a low water level. cipitously, leaving us reeling from severe power
Bne IntelliNews could not immediately estab- deficits, at the very least between now and April,
lish the amount of power the country is import- when we hope the water level will begin to rise
ing from its neighbours, but recent reports again.”
suggested Zambia was supplying 100MW while According to the Zimbabwe Power Com-
Mozambique was providing 100MW as well. pany, a ZESA Holdings subsidiary, Kariba was
Zambia will begin power cuts on December producing 200MW as at 1:30 pm on Thursday.
15 as capacity is depressed on Kariba which it Hwange coal-fired facility was at 296MW while a
shares with Zimbabwe. smaller thermal at Bulawayo was at 10MW.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa blamed The main opposition Citizens Coalition for

climate change for the deepening energy gap. Change (CCC) has promised to promote the use
He expects it to continue until April 2023 when of renewable energy and ensure that power gen-
Kariba’s water level is likely to have improved eration in the country increases to 4,000MW.™
over the summer rainy season.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 07•December•2022