President Cyril Ramaphosa says Eskom debt swap not an option

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that a debt swap for cash-strapped state power firm Eskom would spiral the country into more debt, adding there was a need to look at other options to shore up the company's balance sheet.

"The debt swap that Eskom has come up with is just going to descend us into further deeper debt as a country, so we have said we need to look at other options," Ramaphosa said in an interview on 702 Talk Radio.

Eskom has said it wants the government to take on 100 billion rands ($7 billion) of its debts, about a quarter of its total borrowings of 420 billion rand. ($1 = 14.1919 rand)