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This report was prepared for National Treasury to support its assessment of administered prices in South Africa. The objective of the study was to assess the processes involved in setting prices in regulated industries. By evaluating the efficiency, effectiveness and analytical rigour of the regulatory processes involved in setting prices for the services…"

In this paper we aim at identifying the determinants of South African currency premia in order to assess the scope of South African economic policies to narrow the spread on local-currency denominated debt. South Africa is one among very few emerging economies able to borrow long-term abroad in its own currency and one…"

Since the attainment of independence in 1994 the new government in South Africa has adopted two outward looking development-oriented economic reform programmes, that is, the Reconstruction and Development Programme, (RDP) in 1994 and the Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategies in 1996. RDP clearly outlined the broad framework of the new government's economic…"

Policy makers in the public sector are often faced with requests for financial and other support of investment projects and incentive schemes. Frequently, such requests are accompanied by or require economic impact analyses of some sort. Economic impact assessment of investment projects can be undertaken at various levels. At one level, decision makers…"

The government of South Africa comes across clear in enunciating its goals for the reform of public enterprises. According to the Minister of Public Enterprises, “restructuring” is the generic term taken to represent the set of strategies employed by the state to ensure that public enterprises in South Africa are “efficient, effective, and…"

The study provides a general overview of current issues in the South African Distribution Sector. It is restricted to focussing on three industries namely, pharmaceutical distribution, distribution in the food industry and distribution in the automotive industry. In examining the behaviour of SA retail pharmacies it becomes apparent that retailers have attempted to…"

South Africa has experienced considerable currency volatility during the past few years, despite strong economic fundamentals. Recently this resulted in the appointment of the Myburgh Commission of inquiry into the depreciation of the rand. From January 1, 1996 to May 29, 2002, the value of the rand depreciated from R3.64 per US$ to…"

The paper reports on the construction and testing of a Standard International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) computable general equilibrium model for South Africa. A 1998 social accounting matrix (SAM) for South Africa is compiled using national accounts information and recently released supply-use tables. By updating to a recent year, and by distinguishing…"

In the 1980s the UK (and Chile) began the processes of privatizing and restructuring stateowned enterprises, liberalizing the markets in which they operated and regulating their conduct. Since then many countries at all levels of development have implemented their own programmes of regulatory reform. Almost two decades after the process started it is…"

In recent years, dozens of OECD and non-OECD countries have followed the United States in establishing strong autonomous regulatory institutions empowered with regulatory instruments and financial independence. Flexibility and agility are required to implement ad hoc policies through regulations, resolutions, and decrees. Their special status also responds to the need to operate efficiently…"

The South African financial sector, described here as the banking, insurance and securities industries, is a sophisticated enclave within widespread financial exclusion. The financial sector is generally regarded as stable and well regulated; indeed it is to the latter that the robustness of the sector has been attributed, in the wake of the…"

The past two decades have witnessed far-reaching reforms in the provision of telecommunications services. Before the 1980's, telecoms services were mainly provided by state-owned enterprises and in rare cases by private monopolies with territorial or functional licenses. The 80's saw the role of the state being increasingly changed from that of service provider…"

The determinants of economic growth have long interested economists. A number of variables have been found to be significant, among them the private investment rate, human capital investment rates, the political stability of a country and others. An important sub-category of such determinants is policy variables. Specifically, two such variables are government consumption…"