Private Sector Development, Privatization, and Industrial Policy
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Publication
Russian Federation : Diagnostic Review of Consumer Protection in Financial Services, Volume 1. Key Findings and Recommendations
(Washington, DC, 2009-07)This paper is a pilot diagnostic review of consumer protection in financial services in the Russian Federation. The review examines financial services in Russia, but also emphasizes the need for a set of good practices, or benchmarks, for use in reviewing consumer protection in financial services in any jurisdiction. This work will prove helpful to the international community, and those in emerging markets. The review finds that most people in Russia do not consider themselves financially literate, and have little understanding of their rights as consumers. The review's objectives are to conduct a review of the existing rules and practices in Russia, compared to international good practices on consumer protection in financial services; provide recommendations on ways to improve consumer protection in financial services in Russia; and refine a set of good practices prepared by the World Bank for assessing consumer protection in financial services. As part of the conclusion, methods for better financial education for consumers, are provided -
Publication
Costa Rica : Competitiveness Diagnostic and Recommendations
(World Bank, 2009-07-01)Costa Rica is a clear success story. The country enjoys the highest standard of living in Central America and one of the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Not surprisingly, poverty levels are among the lowest in LAC. Indeed in 2004, Costa Rica had the second lowest poverty headcount in LAC with just nine percent of households below the US$2 poverty line. This report is a contribution to those efforts. Based on multiple data sources, it assesses the main obstacles that affect private sector growth in Costa Rica and provides policy options and targeted interventions for improving the business environment and increasing competitiveness, with the goal of achieving sustained and broad-based growth. In this regard, the main focus of the report is on the long-term instead of on cyclical issues. This report outlines a program to address the critical bottlenecks that hamper Costa Rica in diverse fields including infrastructure, technological innovation and quality, human capital, red tape, and access to credit. The result is a rich and encompassing agenda. The rest of the report is structured in the following way. In section two, the report diagnoses the principal obstacles to export growth and of competitiveness in Costa Rica. The diagnostics reveal four areas most in need of reform: infrastructure, human capital and innovation, business regulation, and access to finance. Sections three to six cover each of these areas. Finally, the report closes with a section on conclusions and recommendations. -
Publication
International Workshop on Public-Private Dialogue : Proceedings Including the Charter of Good Practice in Using Public-Private Dialogue for Private Sector Development
(Washington, DC, 2006-05)There has been growing interest from stakeholders around the world in recent years in how to build momentum for private sector development in states with poor investment climates. Dialogue between the public and private sectors, in various forms, has often been integral to attempts to build such momentum. It became increasingly clear that there was a demand from the field for guidance based on international best practice. In 2004-2005, responding to this demand, the World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) development centre independently conducted or commissioned reports drawing together lessons learned from field experiences in using public-private dialogue to promote private sector development reform efforts. While numerous case studies had existed, this was the first time comprehensive efforts had been made to synthesize lessons. The papers were: competitiveness partnerships, reforming the business enabling environment, and dialogue public-prive dans les pays en developpement. The development of the three papers in a short period indicated a growing recognition among the international donor community of the importance and potential of public-private dialogue as a tool for promoting private sector development with the ultimate aim of poverty reduction. -
Publication
Proceedings Including the Charter of Good Practice in Using Public-Private Dialogue for Private Sector Development
(Washington, DC, 2006-05)There has been growing interest from stakeholders around the world in recent years in how to build momentum for private sector development in states with poor investment climates. Dialogue between the public and private sectors, in various forms, has often been integral to attempts to build such momentum. It became increasingly clear that there was a demand from the field for guidance based on international best practice. In 2004-2005, responding to this demand, the World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) development centre independently conducted or commissioned reports drawing together lessons learned from field experiences in using public-private dialogue to promote private sector development reform efforts. While numerous case studies had existed, this was the first time comprehensive efforts had been made to synthesize lessons. The papers were: competitiveness partnerships, reforming the business enabling environment, and dialogue public-prive dans les pays en developpement. The development of the three papers in a short period indicated a growing recognition among the international donor community of the importance and potential of public-private dialogue as a tool for promoting private sector development with the ultimate aim of poverty reduction. -
Publication
The Cost of Doing Business in Africa : Evidence from the World Bank’s Investment Climate Data
(Washington, DC, 2005-11)This paper looks at firm-level evidence on the African business environment from surveys undertaken for Investment Climate Assessments by the World Bank in 2000-2004. These surveys confirm a pattern of generally low "factory-floor" productivity, and show that this is partly due to business environment-related losses. The surveys also show the importance of high indirect costs in further depressing the "net" productivity of African firms relative to those in other regions. Reforms are moving forward but more slowly than is needed to accelerate growth; this raises the possibility that countries settle into a low-level political equilibrium sustained partly by structural and ethnic cleavages. -
Publication
Argentina - Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Argentina : A Potential Engine for Economic Growth and Employment
(Washington, DC, 2002-08)The convertibility law, and economic liberalization in the early 1990s in Argentina, brought about dramatic changes in economic performance. To adjust to increasing globalization, and a series of external shocks, small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) were confronted with the task of developing business strategies to secure their niches in the new arena. However, such strategies were obstructed by constraints in the legal, and economic framework, weak information and technology aspects, and insufficient access to finance. The report builds on the following issues: 1) the critical aspect of the SME sector to the Argentine economy, both from a growth/efficiency, and equity standpoint; yet on average, SMEs have failed to attain their potential; 2) the highly heterogeneous configuration, particular organizational, and technological characteristics of SMEs; 3) the high degree of institutional rigidity of the country's business environment; 4) the need to develop policy actions to deepen financial markets for SMEs; 5) the significant knowledge constraints - by and large, no training nor technical assistance services are available, mainly because of high costs; 6) the striking multiplicity of SME programs, yet with uncertain impact; and, 7) the need to overhaul SME policies, and programs to prod more incentive- and demand-driven approaches. Elements for effective SMEs assistance programs include the development of a standard set of metrics to measure performance of SMEs, and, entrepreneurial management, deemed of critical importance. As well, cost recovery growth should be targeted, extensively using follow-up techniques, and leveraging their effectiveness through the use of information, and communications technology. Most importantly, the policy challenge lies in taking initiatives to develop institutions at the national, and local levels, to encourage transition from inward-looking firms, narrow search routines, and information-poor markets, to learning-oriented firms, and mature, information-rich markets. -
Publication
Republic of Tunisia - Private Sector Assessment Update : Meeting the Challenge of Globalization, Volume 2. Main Report
(Washington, DC, 2000-12-14)This private sector assessment (PSA) aims at evaluating conditions for private sector development in Tunisia, how they evolved since 1994, and what are the remaining constraints to private investment. It lays out an elaborate framework, placing private sector development in Tunisia, within the context of global economic integration, while facing increased competition from international competitors (particularly those accessing the European market). The analysis of characteristics, and performance of the private sector reveals that although traditionally, Tunisian exports to Europe have been strong, they are now challenged by competition from Asian, and Central/Eastern European countries, a factor exacerbated by the continued anti-export bias of the domestic economy, in light of other countries' rapid investment incentives, which enable private activity to access the opening European market. Thus, improved competitiveness in the country is a major issue. The report proposes reforms in incentives for private sector growth, and in governance; discusses the need, and measures to expand financial access for small/medium enterprises; and proposes options to lay the foundation of a long-term private sector growth strategy. The report contains three volumes, the Executive Summary, and Proposed Reform Agenda; the Main Report; and, Annexes. -
Publication
Private Participation in Public Transport in the FSU
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-04-01)This paper describes and analyses the growth of private sector participation in public transport supply in the countries in the Former Soviet Union in which the World Bank has had recent sector involvement. This includes Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz S.R. and Turkmenistan. While this does not covers only 7 out of the 15 independent states comprising the former, this sample of countries accounts for over 96 percent of the land area and 85 percent of the population of the FSU. It also includes a wide spectrum of countries in terms of size, reform philosophy and income levels. The region only contains two megacities with populations in excess of 5 million (Moscow and St. Petersburg) but has many cities in the range of 0.5 to 2.0 million. Privately owned buses already carry the majority of bus passengers in Russian secondary cities and in Kyrgyzstan, probably about half in Uzbekistan, and a growing proportion in all other countries except turkmenistanstan. In Kazakhstan, where some of the competing companies still have majority state ownership the process of privatization is likely to be taken to completion in the near future. That trend, which merely reflects the ownership structure trends world wide is unlikely to be reversed. Only in Latvia, Turkmenistan and Ukraine is there strong resistance to this trend. But that is not to say that the current situation is stable or sustainable. The threats to that sustainable development can be grouped either by country or by issues.