Administered Prices Study on Economic Inputs: Executive Summary – Ports, Rail, Water
by ALTMAN, etal, 2008HSRC research report prepared for Nedlac
“This is the executive summary of an extensive report examining the prices of goods and services provided by entities owned by the South African government in water, rail and ports. Prices in these three sectors are referred to as ‘administered’ due to the public ownership of the entities providing them. Furthermore, each sector provides important economic inputs for firms and consumers in the rest of the economy. Their pricing conduct and behaviour therefore has a major influence on the competitiveness of the economy as a whole and of the alignment between the productive side of the economy under public ownership and government economic policy. The motivation for undertaking this study on administered prices was to understand the impact of administered pricing on South Africa’s competitiveness. The principle objectives of the study were to: • Understand the impact of administered prices on South Africa’s competitiveness and by extension on opportunities for investment (and employment in particular); • Generate a base of reliable data and analysis of the economic structure of administered price formation; • Place Government and its Nedlac partners in a position to generate strategic recommendations on administered prices.”
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