Person:
Camos, Daniel
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Energy,
Water,
Infrastructure,
Regulation,
Public-private partnerships
Degrees
External Links
Departments
Global Practice on Water
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Daniel Camos is a senior infrastructure economist at the World Bank, where he has worked in the energy and water global practices leading both operations and analytical work. Previously, he worked for the European Commission, the United Nations, and nongovernmental organizations. He currently works in the MENA region and has previous experience in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has a training in economics and engineering, including a PhD in economics from the Paris School of Economics and the Université libre de Bruxelles; an MPA in international development from Harvard Kennedy School; and an industrial engineering degree from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
Publication Search Results
1 - 5 of 5
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Publication
Underpowered : The State of the Power Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-05)Sub-Saharan Africa is in the midst of a power crisis marked by insufficient generating capacity, unreliable supplies, high prices, and low rates of popular access to the electricity grid. The region's capacity for generating power is lower than that of any other world region, and growth in that capacity has stagnated. The average price of power in Sub-Saharan Africa is double that of other developing regions, but supply is unreliable. Because new household connections in many countries are not keeping up with population growth, the electrification rate, already low, is actually declining. The manifestations of the current crisis are symptoms of deeper problems that are explored in this study of power sector institutions in 24 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, which draws extensively on a new body of research undertaken as part of the multi-donor Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD). There are nearly 60 medium- to longer-term power sector projects involving the private sector in the region excluding leases for emergency power generation. Almost half of these are independent power producers (IPPs). Involving more than $2 billion of private sector investment, these IPPs have added early 3,000 MW of new capacity. A few IPP investments have been particularly well structured and contribute reliable power to the national grid. -
Publication
Shedding Light on Electricity Utilities in the Middle East and North Africa: Insights from a Performance Diagnostic
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-01)The electricity sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is in the grip of an apparent paradox. Although the region is home to the world's largest oil and gas reserves and has been able to maintain electricity access rates of close to 100 percent in most of its economies, it may not be able to cater to the future electricity needs of its fast-growing population and their business activities. Primary energy demand is expected to rise at an annual rate of 1.9 percent through 2035, requiring a significant increase in generating capacity. Investments have not been rising fast enough to meet that requirement. -
Publication
Quasi-Fiscal Deficits in the Electricity Sector of the Middle East and North Africa: Sources and Size
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-12)The annual electricity investments needed in the Middle East and North Africa region to keep up with demand have been estimated at about 3 percent of the region's projected gross domestic product. However, in most economies of the region, the ability to make those investments is limited by fiscal and macroeconomic constraints. This paper demonstrates that the solution is readily available: by improving the management and performance of the region's utilities, more than enough resources could be freed up to make the investments needed. The paper presents the first evaluation of the size and composition of the quasi-fiscal deficit associated with the management of the electricity sector in 14 economies in the Middle East and North Africa region. The estimations are for 2013. They show that the average quasi-fiscal deficit is 4.4 percent of gross domestic product (but goes down to 2.9 percent if Lebanon, Djibouti, Bahrain, and Jordan are excluded). Only five economies have a quasi-fiscal deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar, and the West Bank), and hence would not be able to finance the average investment requirement through elimination of inefficiencies. For most economies, the main driver of the quasi-fiscal deficit is the underpricing of electricity, which costs on average 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (but 2.2 percent without Lebanon, Djibouti, Bahrain, and Jordan). Commercial inefficiency comes next, at an average cost of 0.6 percent of gross domestic product. Technical and labor inefficiencies represent, respectively, 0.4 and 0.2 percent of gross domestic product. -
Publication
Regulating Water and Sanitation Network Services Accounting for Institutional and Informational Constraints
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-07)The main purpose of this paper is to argue that the optimal design of regulation of water and sanitation monopolies should be the outcome of a detailed diagnostic of the institutional constraints impacting the ability of the operator -- whether public or private -- to deliver the services. Tailoring the regulatory processes and instruments to account for institutional and informational weaknesses stands a better chance of improving the performance of the sector than the adoption of imported standardized or pre-packaged regulatory tools. -
Publication
Shedding Light on Electricity Utilities in the Middle East and North Africa: Insights from a Performance Diagnostic
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018)The electricity sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) suffers from a major paradox. Indeed, while the region continues to hold the world’s largest oil and gas reserves and has been able to maintain electricity access rates of close to 100 percent in most of its economies, it may not be in a position to cater to the future electricity needs of its fast-growing population and their business activities. The region’s primary energy demand is expected to continue to grow at an annual rate of 1.9 percent through 2035, requiring a significant increase in capacity. Investments have not been rising fast enough to meet those expectations. The main point of this report is to provide quantitative evidence of how improving utility management and more accurately targeting smaller subsidies would free up enough resources to make the needed investments and operate the sector at a lower cost. These management and policy changes would make electricity production and consumption more affordable for the region’s taxpayers and could even make it more affordable for the poorest. They would also ease the transition toward renewable energy sources, reducing the dependency on imports for some economies and, for the economies that export oil and gas, extending the asset life of their nonrenewable resources.