Private Sector Development, Privatization, and Industrial Policy
96 items available
Permanent URI for this collection
Items in this collection
1 - 8 of 8
-
Publication
Sierra Leone Growth Pole Diagnostic : The Growth Poles Program
(Washington, DC, 2013-08)This First Phase Report on Sierra Leone growth poles is the result of a 9 months consultative process led by the Office of the President which specifically requested that the output of this diagnostic be in an engaging format. The fundamental concept of growth poles is that they exploit agglomeration economies and spillover effects to spread resulting prosperity from the core of the pole to the periphery. At the basis of this theory is the assumption that economic development is not uniform over a region. Rather, it concentrates around a geographic feature or economic hub. In particular, it frequently concentrates around a key industry, around which linked industries develop. A growth pole can be used to nurture direct and indirect linkages from the flagship industry to supporting sectors, which vastly expands the employment generation potential of new investments in said flagship industry. The expansion of this key industry implies the expansion of output, employment, related investments, as well as new technologies and new industrial sectors. -
Publication
Zambia - More Jobs and Prosperity in Zambia : What Would it Take? Based on the Jobs and Prosperity : Building Zambia’s Competitiveness Program
(World Bank, 2011-06-01)While Zambia's economy performs well, in macroeconomic terms, low levels of productivity plague industry, and this constrains growth, diversification and prosperity. In recent years, economic growth has averaged 5-6 percent a year, business reforms are being implemented, and investment levels are at an all time high. However, according to the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness index 2010-2011, Zambia is not a competitive place in which to do business (ranking 115th out of 139 countries). Not surprisingly, business productivity tends to be low, and few Zambian industries are internationally competitive. Formal employment is shrinking and rural poverty is increasing. In summary, there is an urgent need to increase productivity, growth and employment. These questions continue to preoccupy policy makers, businesses and civil society especially in light of government's strategy to embrace private sector-led growth and facilitate competitiveness and diversification. The Jobs and Prosperity: Building Zambia's Competitiveness (JPC) Program is an effort to answer these questions and, at the same time, to achieve some concrete results that improve industry productivity and competitiveness. The Zambian government, with support from donors, has, for a long time, been trying to raise prosperity by encouraging more productive businesses, more competitive and diverse industries, and greater employment. Yet these efforts have not generated the results sought. The goal of the JPC Program is to achieve some meaningful progress towards improving industry productivity and competitiveness. The Program focuses on four industries so as to build traction and keep the scope of work manageable. The industries were selected by a group of Zambian stakeholders. The Program facilitated a process through which Zambian stakeholders identified some narrowly defined target results that, if achieved, could help these industries become more productive and then supports initiatives to achieve these results. -
Publication
Zambia - What Would it Take for Zambia’s Copper Mining Industry to Achieve Its Potential?
(World Bank, 2011-06-01)This report is part of a series produced by the World Bank's Africa Finance and Private Sector Development Unit (AFTFP). This report explores the potential contribution that the copper mining industry could make to jobs and prosperity in Zambia, and what it will take to achieve this potential. Copper has for many years played an important role in Zambia's economy, and the performance of the economy has followed the fortunes of copper mining closely. This report investigates the role copper mining could play in achieving the government's objectives of increasing economic growth and jobs in the future. Although 40 percent of the country has not been geologically surveyed, Zambia is recognized by the international mining industry as having good mineral potential. Zambia possesses 6 percent of known world copper reserves. According to the highly-respected Fraser Institute survey of mining and exploration companies, Zambia ranks 26th out of 79 jurisdictions worldwide for mineral potential. In Africa, only the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burkina Faso have appreciably higher mineral potential scores. -
Publication
Africa Region Tourism Strategy : Transformation through Tourism - Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods
(Washington, DC, 2011)This paper presents the strategy vision for Africa of promoting tourism. The strategy relies on four pillars: policy reforms, capacity building, private sector linkages, and product competitiveness. Working closely with client countries, implementation of the Africa Region Tourism Strategy, will focus interventions in these four areas in order to address the persistent constraints to the growth of tourism in Africa. Combined, these interventions will enable high-demand tourism products to compete in the global marketplace. The approach is region-wide; it engages staff across the Bank's Africa Region. Implementation will be led by Africa Region s Finance and Private Sector Development Department (AFTFP). The World Bank Group support to the Africa tourism sector is currently 120 million US dollars. It could reach 500 US dollars million by 2015, generating as many as 300,000 direct formal jobs. The report examines the social, environmental, and economic risks associated with poorly managed tourism, and offers recommendations based on years of experience with tourism projects.This review has provided a snapshot of what Bank has been doing to support tourism development, and its alignment with national strategies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The findings from this review are anticipated to facilitate future dialogue and negotiations among tourism stakeholders to increase support for tourism development in the region. -
Publication
South Africa : Enhancing the Effectiveness of Government in Promoting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise
(Washington, DC, 2007-02)This study focuses in particular on the question of whether incentives and support programs have: (a) been correctly targeted to address the diverse and specific needs of small, especially micro, enterprises; (b) been implemented efficiently by the responsible agencies in terms of their delivery and impact, and (c) have been effective in helping smaller firms access a wider market for their products and services. The findings of the micro-enterprise survey, the review of the various incentive programs and the value chain analyses indicate that: (a) among specific constraints faced by the small, micro and medium enterprises (SMME) sector, the skills gap and the issue of access to finance are of particular relevance; and (b) while the economic rationale that existed in 1995 for SMME support remains valid, there is a need to find cost-effective and well-targeted programs that meet that rationale. The issue of skills development, in particular, is central to the medium-term agenda as a means of raising productivity and, hence, employment in segments of industry - both in the formal and informal sectors. As regards the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) programs, there is a need to improve the effectiveness of promotion, strengthening selection criteria, and modulate the process of scaling up of individual programs. As regards other incentives, implementation of the Duty Credit Certification Scheme (DCCS) incentives has not been highly effective in ensuring the compliance of beneficiaries with the training and skills development requirements of the scheme; and this will need to be tightened up in the future. -
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
Kenya : Growth and Competitiveness
(Washington, DC, 2005-01)The conclusions of the recently-conducted Kenya Investment Climate Assessment (ICA), based on a survey of 368 firms, have a bearing on the country's growth agenda. The results have a bearing on the key issue of labor productivity and its implications on firm performance, revealing that capital-intensity in Kenya was relatively high, compared to the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and also to firms in China and India, but also relatively less productive. Labor productivity in Kenya had not improved materially over the past decade or so, so that unit labor costs compared very unfavorably with those prevailing in Asian countries like India, China, Indonesia or Thailand. Major constraints to doing business cited by firms in the survey related to infrastructure, tax administration and corruption. On infrastructure, power supply was seen as the most problematic, on account of the high number of outages, compounded by high losses in transmission and distribution. 64 percent of firms reported damage to equipment on account of power outages or fluctuations valued at nearly $15,000 per firm per year. To cope with these outages 70 percent of firms had acquired generators, further adding to the cost of doing business. Road and rail services were reported by most firms as being of very poor quality, and nearly a quarter of firms reported having to spend their own resources to improve the quality of roads in surrounding areas. On corruption, three quarters of firms surveyed reported this as a problem, though only about half reported having to spend resources in terms of unofficial payments. -
Publication
Zambia : The Challenge of Competitiveness and Diversification
(Washington, DC, 2003-01-10)This study was designed to go below the radar of Zambia's macroeconomic developments to examine trends, constraints, and opportunities in specific economic subsectors. It sought to build upon existing and planned analyses within the country in order to better understand: 1) the underlying bases for competitive advantage and disadvantage in the evolving Zambian economy; 2) the likely sustainability of those patterns of economic diversification which have already taken place; 3) what linkages have and have not been formed within the agricultural and mining sectors which might still be a basis for future growth; 4) the specific effects of certain macroeconomic developments and "external" events on different stakeholders and the types of responses they have made to these; and 5) what measures could be taken to improve competitiveness within the Zambian economy and accelerate future growth. The work was designed to complement on-going analytical work, especially by the Export Board of Zambia and the Zambia National Farmers Union, ans also complement on-going work to assess the constraints and opportunities facing Zambia's tourism sector. The present study draws upon available data, an updated analysis of agricultural production costs and profitability, and surveys of private agribusiness, non-traditional export, and mining (and mining-related companies. A parallel analysis was undertaken on the food and agricultural import demand into South Africa, a potential trade destination.