The bank wants to support Africa’s sixth most populated nation and help it reduce its energy emissions.
South Africa’s energy grid has been increasingly struggling, with the country’s coal-fired power stations routinely breaking down and leaving citizens without power for up to 10 hours a day.
To address this situation, the World Bank said it will provide a $1bn (£830m) development policy loan (DPL) to South Africa. The funds are expected to help facilitate the “restructuring of the power sector” through the unbundling of state-owned utility firm Eskom.
The World Bank said the loan “supports the opening of the power market and aims to improve Eskom’s efficiency by redirecting its resources toward investments in transmission and maintenance of existing power plants”.
In addition, the funding is also expected to help the country reduce its CO2 emissions by “encouraging private investment in renewable energy” and “strengthening carbon pricing instruments...