This contributed volume examines development efforts in sub-Saharan Africa and the role privatization and foreign investment can play. The focus is on African and international capital mobility and recent experience in private investment in contemporary African states. While government in Africa continues to have a hand in economic and political matters, private enterprise, private investment, and market forces are becoming increasingly active. The volume reveals these new directions in development practice in Africa and analyzes the difficulties which government, while well-intended, has created in the past. Contributors from the United States and Africa pose questions and examine scenarios for investment in sub-Saharan Africa. And while no single strategy is agreed upon, they provide overwhelming evidence that it has been the failure of prior central policies which has held these nations back, and that hope for the 1990's lies in the unleashing of the private sector. This work will be of interest to scholars and policy-makers in development economics, international trade and finance, and African studies.

This paper examines the promise and challenge of infrastructure privatization in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular emphasis on power, telecommunications, water, rail, ports and airports. The paper places primary emphasis on mobilizing private investment in infrastructure. To realize the potential of infrastructure privatization in sub-Saharan Africa, four main challenges must be addressed: a) concerns over market size, affordability and payment risks; b) establishing adequate legal and regulatory frameworks; c) dealing with non commercial risks; and d) mobilizing local finance. The paper examines these four areas and gives elements of a future strategy for the World Bank Group.

This book examines recent progress made in the region’s privatisation effort in Sub-Saharan Africa. With cumulative proceeds of privatisation accounting for just $8 billion compared to $46 billion in transition economies over the same period, it is ...

Provides a state-of-the art review of privatization issues and research questions as a prelude to an in-depth study of the economic and social impact of privatization.

it is increasingly apparent that the privatization experiment in sub-Saharan Africa has failed. This book shows that the state is set to dominate service delivery for the foreseeable future in much of the region, and that the public sector must be considered as a viable policy option for the delivery of water and electricity.

This paper assesses empirically the role of public policies in stimulating private savings and investment in sub-Saharan African countries, based on data for the period 1986-92. The main findings of the analysis are as follows: (i) policies effective in stimulating private savings and investment include those that keep the rate of inflation low, reduce macroeconomic uncertainty, promote financial deepening, and lower the external debt burden; (ii) measures that promote structural reforms and reduce the budget deficit (without lowering government investment) help to raise private investment; and (iii) declines in government savings are only partially offset by increases in private savings.

In the pursuit of policies and approaches that would sustain and accelerate economic development after the declared departure of colonial powers, African governments set up parastatals to serve as conduit for economic development through which governments could deliver services to the general populace. However, there is evidence that most parastatals do not utilize resources efficiently; instead, they impose heavy burdens on public resources and distort their use in the economy. Given the shortcomings of parastatals, in the 1980s, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), USAID, and other international donor agencies came to Africa with a philosophy of privatization. These multi-national corporations and donor agencies discretely advocated the overhauling of parastatals but the suggested processes and methods to this end were vague. Nonetheless, the arm-twisting strategies of multi-national corporations and international donors forced African governments to succumb to the philosophy of privatization. Unfortunately, in general, the philosophy, policies and practices of privatization operated to the economic detriment of African countries. Thus, as pursued in this text, it is actively compelling that the process of privatization be examined critically, considering advantages and disadvantages as well as the economic profitability for countries in sub-Saharan Africa.