AMMAN — Minister of Energy
and Mineral Resources
Saleh Al-Kharabsheh said on Wednesday that his ministry was
working, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, on a plan to transfer
the current debt, estimated at JD5.5 billion, which is based on commercial
terms, to the Ministry of Finance and replace it with soft financing with few
conditions.
اضافة اعلان
He said that successive losses over
the years suffered by the
National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) had resulted
in the accumulation of mounting debts, according to Ammon News.
The minister added that the ministry
is working with the company on a plan to improve both revenues and services
provided.
"Through this plan, we hope
that the company will move from making losses to a stage of parity or securing
modest profit margins that will enable it to pay off the debt," Kharabsheh
said.
He predicted that the company will
suffer more losses in the coming two or three years, but in the future, following
the measures taken, it is expected to move from loss to profitability, and thus
financial sustainability.
In 2020, NEPCO confirmed that its
accumulated debts were estimated at about JD5.5 billion, which cost them about
JD120 million annually in debt service fees and interest for the loans they
entailed to commercial banks.
Last month, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report that the government is preparing to update
NEPCO’s financial sustainability roadmap. IMF added that the roadmap will look at
the option of transferring NEPCO’s debts to the Finance Ministry in order to
reduce its costs.
“The roadmap also might transfer
some of NEPCO’s debts to the central government in order to facilitate
refunding the debts due in 2022 and 2023 with a lower cost and longer due
dates, in addition to reducing the pressure on the national exchange system,”
said the report, pointing out that this will require enhancing the companies’
participation in NEPCO’s affairs, including in the current reforms which are
supported by the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
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