BIS Review 78/2001  3  we probably still have approximately 17.5 percentage points of the 18 percentage point difference in food prices. Another field in which competition appears to be weak is the construction sector, and in particular the construction materials sector. This area is characterised by a high company concentration with considerable entry barriers to new companies and weak import competition. With regard to prices for construction materials, one can also see a much more rapid price rise than for other industrial products over a number of years, which may indicate rising profit margins or considerable inefficiency in resource utilisation. In some further fields, such as telecommunications services and electricity, deregulation had a pronounced dampening effect on price development for some time. This is no longer the case. The most recent statistics available indicate price increases of 7 per cent and 20 per cent respectively for these areas. In addition, Telia has announced a large rise in its subscriber fees with effect from October. I therefore see it as natural that there are investigations underway and planned into competition conditions in these markets. Vested interests versus consumer interests Although we have thus achieved improvements in certain areas, it appears to me that the description in the Economics Commission's report of 1993 (page 10) still applies to large parts of the economy. "It is evident that a number of important markets in the Swedish economy function poorly and that this leads to considerable wastefulness with resources and to large costs for the national economy.
Eva Srejber: Competition and growth Speech by Ms Eva Srejber, Second Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, to the Swedish Taxpayers Association, Stockholm, 21 September 2001. *  *  *  According to the Sveriges Riksbank Act, the objective of monetary policy is to safeguard the value of money. The Riksbank has specified this in its inflation target, i.e. that CPI inflation should amount to 2 per cent with a deviation interval of plus/minus one percentage point. This means that when we formulate monetary policy, we must take into account changes in a number of areas that affect price trends, either directly or indirectly. I thought that I would comment on one of these areas today, namely competition, and its effects on potential growth. This is an area that we are forced to consider when we analyse the economy, as it is essential to assess potential growth when shaping monetary policy. However, before I begin, I should like to make the point that I will not be discussing the current monetary policy situation. Growth is a constant central feature of monetary policy discussions, as demand in the economy in relation to production capacity is crucial for determining whether inflationary bottlenecks arise or whether we will underutilise the production potential. It is sometimes claimed that maintaining price stability limits growth. This is incorrect. The limits are determined by the potential growth rate.