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Ghana’s power producers suspend planned electricity shutdown

Published

11 months ago

July 1, 2023

The planned power shutdown by Ghana’s independent power producers has been suspended.

The body made the announcement in a statement released late Friday and revealed that it had reached an agreement with state-run Electricity Company of Ghana over discrepancies on arrears.

According to the statement, interim payments have been made to power producers with the understanding that the government and Ghana’s Electricity Company will use the grace period to try to find a long-term solution to the debt problem.

In May, the producers turned down a government proposal to restructure $1.58 billion in arrears owed to them by the state as part of the West African country’s efforts to put into effect a $3 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Ghana is currently going through financial stress and has defaulted on both its local and international debt with its creditors, mainly China, the World Bank, and the IMF, and has in recent years been occupied with restructuring its debt.

Elsewhere in the continent, there has also been discord between government and electricity workers. Recently in South Africa, staff of state utility company, Eskom rejected revised salary of 4.5% from the original offer of 3.75% and demanded increase between 12% and 15%.

In Nigeria, Ghana’s sub-regional neighbours, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has continuously threatened to shut down the national grid over demands relating to power generation and remuneration.

Related Topics:electricity Featured Ghana

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Nigeria’s inflation hits 28-year high of 33.69% in April

Published

7 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria’s consumer inflation reached a 28-year high of 33.69% in April, up from 33.20% in March, according to statistics agency figures released on Wednesday.

President Bola Tinubu’s administration has slashed petrol and energy subsidies and devalued the local naira currency twice.

To manage pricing pressures, the central bank has hiked interest rates twice this year, including the highest hike in almost 17 years. The central bank governor has stated that rates will remain high for as long as necessary to reduce inflation. The bank will host another rate-setting meeting next week.

When compared to the previous year, the inflation rate in April 2024 was 11.47 percentage points more than in April 2023, when it stood at 22.22 percent. This implies that the headline inflation rate has increased dramatically during the last year.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food and nonalcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to inflation in April. Food inflation, which accounts for most of the inflation basket, rose to 40.53% yearly from 40.01% in March.

Price pressures have left millions of Nigerians facing the biggest cost-of-living crisis in decades, as they fight to satisfy their most basic necessities.

Tinubu has offered a 35% salary increase for state personnel to alleviate pressure on government workers. To assist disadvantaged households, his government has resumed a direct cash transfer program and provided at least 42,000 tons of grains such as corn and millet.

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Uganda discusses power line to South Sudan with China’s Sinohydro

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to the president’s office, Uganda is in negotiations with Sinohydro Corporation Limited of China to build a $180 million power transmission line that would enable Uganda to export electricity to South Sudan, which is severely short on energy.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni received a group led by Vice President of Sinohydro Corporation Yang Yi Xin on Monday as part of the negotiations, according to a late-morning statement from Museveni’s office.

The project, according to the statement, will entail building a new substation and expanding two existing ones in addition to building a 138-kilometre high-voltage transmission line to provide power to South Sudan.

“We are very much willing to help develop this project with the required finance if needed,” Xin was quoted as telling the president.

The statement stated that Museveni endorsed Sinohydro’s proposal to carry out the project. Uganda and South Sudan inked a power sales deal in June of last year, enabling Uganda to sell electricity to South Sudan.

To enable Uganda to export electricity to South Sudan, the two nations inked a power sales deal in June of last year. The Chinese firm is completing a $1.5 billion, 600-megawatt hydropower project on the River Nile in Northern Uganda that is meant to be the source for electricity exports to South Sudan.