South African businesses and households were hit by scheduled power cuts for the first time in 10 months on Friday due to breakdowns at state power utility Eskom's coal-fired power stations.Energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told reporters that Eskom had depleted its reserves and would implement "Stage 3" power cuts,

During a media briefing Friday afternoon, Ramokgopa explained that several factors, including a number of unit failures at state power utility Eskom's power stations, led to a "perfect storm," triggering the necessity of initiating load-shedding.

South Africa's central bank cut its main lending rate by another 25 basis points to 7.50% as expected on Thursday, saying that while inflation appeared well-contained the medium-term outlook was more uncertain than usual.