South Africa considering $1 billion bailout for national airline

South Africa's Treasury is considering a 13b rand (US$972m) bailout to keep South African Airways (SAA) going as it battles a cash crunch, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Friday. The airline runs one of Africa's biggest fleets but is close to bankruptcy after years of operational losses. It received state funds in July to help repay debts and also about 20 billion rand in government guarantees to keep it solvent. Bankruptcy would hurt an economy that slid into recession in March. Credit ratings agencies say SAA should be reformed and cite the cost of propping it up as a threat to the rating of Africa's most industrialized economy, which S&P Global Ratings and Fitch have downgraded to "junk". "We are in discussions about that (a bailout) and at the medium term budget statement in October I will make the necessary announcement," Gigaba said. Gigaba later told a parliamentary finance committee he would consider all financing options including a proposal from SAA to source 6b rand from the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which oversees state employee retirement funds and has more than 1.8t rand under management. SAA executives later told the committee it would face a liquidity crisis if it does not receive the 13b rand injection to meet debt obligations and cover operating costs.<br/>