Zambia announced on Thursday it will import electricity from neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe as drought slashes hydropower output, leading to blackouts of up to 16 hours a day.
The state-owned power company ZESCO will procure 218 megawatts of power from South Africa's Eskom and the Zimbabwe Power Company, Energy Minister Makozo Chikote said.
"The electricity procured from the two companies is expected to be injected in the grid within the month of August," Chikote told a press conference.
The southern Africa nation declared in February a national disaster because of the drought, which has been exacerbated by climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon.
Forced to limit power supplies
ZESCO has been forced to limit power supplies to around eight hours per day due to low water levels in its dams, which produce around 80% of its power.
At the end of July, ZESCO could only supply less than half of the country's peak demand, the minister said, putting the power deficit at around 1,360 megawatts.
Other measures the government hopes will ease the crippling blackouts include the deployment of diesel generators to hospitals, schools and other key facilities, and accelerated private investment in power generation.
Chikote also announced that Zambia has agreed on tax-free imports on solar power equipment.
Food and water shortages
The outages are holding back economic activity, with small business being the most affected, the minister said.
Zambia is facing its worst drought on record with some areas receiving less than 50% of their usual annual rainfall, the World Food Programme has said.
The result is major crop losses and deaths of livestock, with millions of people facing food and water shortages, aid agencies say.
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