Zimbambwe has secured three loans worth about $108 million from the Import and Export Banks of India and China to boost power generation and expand its broadband network. Zimbambwe’s State-run newspaper The Herald reports that government secured from Import and Export Bank of India two separate loans, worth $23 million and $19.5 million respectively, to boost electricity generation and ease the strain caused by peristent blackouts in the country.
The newspaper reports that the country’s of generation capacity as of Friday last week was at 663 megawatts (MW) against a national demand of 1 700MW. The shortfall was attribute to low water levels in Lake Kariba, which reportedly reduced power generation to 164Mw, against an installed capacity of 1 050MW.
South Africa on Friday agreed to supply 400MW of power to Zimbabwe after Harare agreed terms to settle its debt with regional power utility providers, which means that Harare still has a deficit of 637 megawatts to content with.
Business representatives in Zimbabwe told BBC that the recent blankouts, which have gone for as long as 18 hours on some days, have cost the country’s ailing economy $200 million in lost revenue. Government said in a statement quoted by The Herald that the $65.8 million loan from China “will be utilised for the purpose of expanding the Zimbabwe NetOne National Mobile Broadband Expansion Project”.