this is part of the contribution that central banks make to overall financial system stability. with the reintegration of south africa into the world economy in the early 1990s, it was clearly evident that this would bring increased obligations in order to ensure that the domestic clearing and settlement systems and risk management procedures conformed to international best practice. in february 1994, the banking industry requested the south african reserve bank to take the lead in the modernisation process of the domestic payment system. the nps project, which was initiated by the bank in april 1994, was launched as a collaborative effort between the bank and the banking industry and the initial focus was to formulate a long - term strategy for the modernisation and development of the domestic payment system. this initial work resulted in the development of the south african national payment system framework and strategy document ( the so - called blue book ) which was published by the bank in 1995. the blue book contained the vision and strategy for the nps up to 2004. an important component of the implementation strategy entailed the establishment of an umbrella body – the payment association of south africa ( pasa ). it was envisaged that pasa would play a central role in establishing and controlling payment stream associations representing the banks participating in each particular payment stream. it was the view at the time that although the bank would remain responsible for the overall safety and soundness of the nps, the clearing environment should be managed by an association made up of participants in that environment. although the nps act, which makes provision for a payment system management body, was only promulgated in october 1998, pasa was already formally established on 26 september 1996. the act made provision for a payment system management body, not only to manage the affairs of its members in relation to payment instructions, but also to act as a medium of communication with the different stakeholders, namely the bank, government, public bodies, the media and even the general public. from what we understand there were some " teething " problems but pasa has over the past ten years matured in terms of both the structural arrangements and its stature. today pasa has a governing council, an executive office and several strategic, risk and payment clearing house workgroups or committees which has increased its operational efficiency and effectiveness quite significantly. this is good progress for which all of us must take credit. much of what has been achieved in the development of our nps over the past ten years has been through consultation, collaboration and co

has to be gradually rebuilt, faster employment and economic growth can only come about through selling more to the rest of the world or through implementing the well - known structural reforms outlined in the ndp to get us to a higher growth path. the lower oil price does provide us with a shot in the arm. it will boost the economy through greater discretionary spending amongst households and through a lower imported fuel bill. if however, because of the tighter electricity constraints, the economy cannot supply the additional goods demanded, the benefit to the economy may be smaller than we think. the lower oil price provides an opportunity for households to pay down debt. furthermore, even though the lower oil price provides a boost to consumers, lower prices for our key export commodities such as coal, iron ore and platinum mean that south africa loses out on valuable export earnings. because the prices of both imported oil and exported commodities have fallen, the net positive effect for south africa is still positive, but minimal. the benefit from the lower oil price, even if it is to be realised, is likely to be temporary, for two reasons. firstly, unless oil prices continue falling, the lower oil price provides a once - off reduction in inflation. we do expect the oil price to recover, and so it has recently, rising by over 25 percent from its low point in january. we expect oil prices to recover further, even though we do not think it would go back up to $ 100 a barrel anytime soon. the second reason why we think that the benefit from the lower oil price is only transitory is that price setters in the economy do not appear to be using the lower oil price and lower inflation in the present to lower price expectations about the future. put bluntly, even though inflation in january came in at 5. 3 percent and the february number is likely to dip below 4 percent, average wage settlements are still in the realms of 8 percent. similarly, many price setters for goods and services are not passing on the benefits of lower prices to consumers. a classic example is taxi fares. do they ever come down when petrol prices fall? another example is retailers, who are quick to adjust their prices in response to rising distribution costs when the fuel prices rise, but not so quick to reduce them when fuel prices fall. the reason why these prices remain high even with lower cost structures suggests that there is a lack of adequate levels of competition in some of these industries. if however, we can dream ; and lower fuel prices are passed