Project financing in, prescribed assets lose favour at growth drive planning

Prescribed assets, where the government forces retirement funds to fund specific projects or companies, appear to be off the table after the private sector and the government thrashed out a plan to finance President Cyril Ramaphosa’s proposed R1-trillion infrastructure drive.

Leon Campher, CEO of the Association for Savings and Investment SA (Asisa), said months of meetings between the investment industry, the government and labour unions could see the investment plan being funded through a variety of financial structures that could include listed project bonds. It was also decided that an entity called Infrastructure SA will be established as a single portal to co-ordinate state projects...