South Africa Bails Out Airline After Investor Search Fails
- Finance minister cracks, allocating $641 million to SAA
- South African Airways planes grounded by Covid-19 pandemic
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South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni agreed to a 10.5 billion rand ($641 million) bailout for the country’s grounded national airline, after a lengthy search for private investors in the carrier fell flat.
Mboweni made the announcement in Wednesday’s medium-term budget policy statement, ending a long personal resistance to providing more funds to a company that hasn’t made a profit for almost a decade and has long relied on state support. The outlay adds to the 16.4 billion rand the Treasury set aside over three years in February for South African Airways to repay its guaranteed debt and cover debt-service costs.