The 15-year facility includes a five-year grace period and links funding to verified performance targets, Pretoria has said<\/p>\n
South Africa has secured a $1 billion loan from the BRICS-founded New Development Bank (NDB) to reform failing water, electricity and waste services across all eight of the country\u2019s metropolitan municipalities, the National Treasury has announced.
\nIn a statement released to the media on Tuesday, National Treasury said the loan would support the government-led Metro Trading Services Reform Programme, which focuses on improving the governance, financial sustainability and operational performance of municipal services.
\nThe program covers key trading services including water and sanitation, electricity and energy, and solid waste management.
\n\u201dThe financing supports a government-led, performance-based reform program implemented through South Africa\u2019s existing legal, fiscal and institutional framework,\u201d\u00a0Treasury said.
\n\u201dThis is a performance-based loan with financing linked to institutional strengthening and the achievement of independently verified measurable performance targets that are approved by metro councils for their trading service.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Treasury added that NDB\u2019s financing forms part of the government\u2019s broader efforts to reform municipal trading services in metropolitan municipalities and offers favorable concessional financial terms. The financing would have a maturity period of 15 years, including a five-year grace period, with the interest rate linked to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).<\/p>\n
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The concessional financing would help reduce the cost of funding the reforms while supporting metropolitan municipalities to strengthen the financial and operational performance of their trading services, according to the department.
\nThe program applies to South Africa\u2019s eight metropolitan municipalities: Buffalo City, Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Johannesburg, Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane.
\n\u201dThe NDB loan was prepared in coordination with development partners active in South Africa\u2019s infrastructure sector. National Treasury extends its appreciation to the NDB for its support to this government-led reform towards better services for residents and stronger, more sustainable cities.\u201d
\nFirst published by IOL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 15-year facility includes a five-year grace period and links funding to verified performance targets, Pretoria has said South Africa has secured a $1 billion loan from the BRICS-founded New…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t