Privatisation: The developing country experience

Recently, under pressure from donor agencies and in the face of mounting budgetary deficits, developing countries (LDCs) have increasingly begun to implement economic reforms designed to change the balance between the public and private sectors in economic activity. The experience of privatisation in the developed economies has undoubtedly encouraged this process, and privatisation has been held up by most donor agencies as a policy of universal applicability. But developing countries face special difficulties in adopting such a strategy as difficulties that are not simply of a political nature. This Briefing Paper examines the experience of privatisation in some LDCs at a time when donors have been exercising increasing pressure on LDC governments.