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Manufacturing News South Africa

Eskom tariff hikes may hurt manufacturing, mining sectors

Analysts say Eskom's planned tariff increases, although lower than in the past few years, threaten to erode the competitiveness of the manufacturing and mining sectors, stunt job creation and add to inflationary pressures, iAfrica.com reports.

The state-owned power utility declined to confirm a report it had proposed to raise electricity tariffs by at least 14,6% over each of the next five years, according to iAfrica.com. This would climb to 19% if the government introduced a carbon tax or built new power plants beyond those already under construction.

The state wants the economy to create up to 5-million jobs by 2020, with manufacturing playing a key role in meeting this target.

Electricity prices, however, have been a key culprit of rising inflation in the past few years, in the process eroding the purchasing power of consumers and the profits of manufacturing and mining companies, iAfrica.com says.

Read the full article on business.iafrica.com

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