The State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is aiming to convert a significant portion of a R24-billion investment pipeline into commitments following a steep fall in both approvals and disbursements during its Covid-afflicted 2020/21 financial year.
The development finance institution reported that disbursements fell to R6.3-billion, from R8.4-billion in the prior year, while approvals slumped to only R5.4-billion from R9.5-billion.
CEO TP Nchocho said prior approvals of R9-billion were also cancelled as recipient firms pulled back from new investments in light of the uncertainty created by the pandemic, as well as weak business confidence.
The pipeline, he reported, was made up of 160 opportunities across a range of sectors from agriculture and manufacturing to non-coal mining, with energy-related prospects emerging particularly strongly, along with projects related to decarbonisation and the just energy transition.
The energy pipeline had been buoyed by the recent change to electricity regulations allowing for distributed generation projects of up 100 MW in size to proceed without a licence, as well as the resumption of government procurement through the launch of bid window five of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
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