SARB has plan for payments should power grid collapse

JOHANNESBURG - The Reserve Bank says it’s working on a contingency plan to ensure the country’s payments system continues to operate if the electricity grid collapses.

Deputy Governor Kuben Naidoo says the financial sector is doing all it can to try and prevent chaos and panic should a grid collapse occur.

READ: Restore the power grid | South Africans in the dark about Stage 16

"All of that work is ongoing. We're working quite closely with the telecom sector, with diesel suppliers, with the banks, with the payments industry, with retailers to try and ensure that we can gradually raise the resilience of the financial sector," Naidoo said.

"This is still very early work, still very preliminary work."

READ: Eskom denies imminent grid collapse

Meanwhile, Eskom has categorically denied that the national electricity grid faces imminent collapse.

Eskom says it's concerned over social media posts claiming that the country will soon experience a blackout or collapse of the national electricity grid.

The Reserve Bank says it's working on a contingency plan to ensure the country’s payments system continues to operate if the electricity grid collapses. Deputy Governor Kuben Naidoo says the financial sector is doing all it can to try and prevent chaos and panic should a grid… pic.twitter.com/3IsjjqV2ps

— eNCA (@eNCA) May 31, 2023