Privatization of state-owned enterprises

(1) The project is achieving its goal of privatization of 12-15 companies. (2) Permanent annual economic gains from the project were evidenced in budget gains, new jobs, additional foreign exchange, and new foreign and domestic investments resulting in more production. (3) The political will to put into place and sustain the necessary legal framework for a successful privatization project has been demonstrated. (4) It is essential to put into place an effective public education program at the start of a project, targeting potential opposition groups in an effort to co-opt them. The evaluators noted the following "lessons": (1) Technical groups need to maintain a low public profile in order to encourage host governments to assume the leadership in privatization. Privatization is sensitive enough without creating preceptions of U.S. manipulation in the process. (2) A political environment hospitable to privatization is an essential condition for creating the appropriate legal and policy frameworks for a divestiture project. (Author abstract) See also abstract of PD-AAZ-839