Deutsche Post must lower postage rate by 0.01 Eur this year

Deutsche Post World Net AG will have to lower its postage rate by 0.01 eur this year, the weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported, in an article to be published tomorrow, without citing sources.
This is much smaller than the 0.06 eur cut called for by Germany’s post and telecommunications regulator RegTP.
Two years ago, RegTP asked for prices to be cut, but German economy minister Werner Mueller stepped in to stop price cuts ahead of the company’s IPO.
To have slashed prices significantly would have pressured the company’s share price.
Similarly the government will want to avoid large price cuts this time round ahead of a secondary offering of its stake in Deutsche Post in a bid to bring the budget deficit close to balance by 2004.