Private Sector Development, Privatization, and Industrial Policy
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Publication
Creating Markets In Honduras: Fostering Private Sector Development for a Resilient and Inclusive Economy - Country Private Sector Diagnostic
(Washington, DC, 2022-05)Honduras has significant investment potential, with ample productive resources, a solid industrial base, a market-oriented reform agenda, a strategic location with access to many international markets, and a growing labor force. The country’s young and growing population is yielding a demographic dividend, which presents new opportunities for economic growth and diversification, especially in the service sectors such as business-process outsourcing (BPO) and in development of digital financial services (DFS). Honduras’s rich endowment of resources and improving business climate have attracted rising levels of private investment, and the country achieved the second highest tradeto-GDP ratio in the Latin America and the Caribbean region prior to COVID-19 crisis. However, large-scale investment and trade have yet to generate rapid economic growth and robust poverty reduction. The public and private sectors will both play vital roles in Honduras’s economic recovery. Ongoing targeted support will be necessary to address the health and humanitarian consequences of the pandemic, mitigate the resulting increase in poverty and inequality, and support the resumption of economic activity. This Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) is designed to help guide Honduras’s private sector development agenda in this challenging and rapidly evolving context. -
Publication
Reforming Business Registration in Greece: A Case Study
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-09-13)This case study explores the reforms of the business registration process implemented in Greece since 2005. It identifies lessons that can be valuable for public servants and policymakers in other countries, especially those who are considering reforming their business registration systems. The case study can also be useful to Greek policymakers and practitioners as they reform other areas of the business environment. In 2004, Greek entrepreneurs had to complete several procedures and go through a burdensome court-based process to register a business. Research suggests that streamlining business registration has the potential to support entrepreneurship, encourage the creation of new firms, and reduce informality, but of course needs to be considered in the backdrop of the broader business climate. From this perspective, establishing one-stop shops facilitates the registration of firms, which may be deterred by complex entry regulations. -
Publication
Creating Markets in Vietnam: Bolstering the Private Sector During COVID-19 and Beyond - Relief, Restructuring, and Resilient Recovery
(World Bank, Washington, DC:, 2021-09)The objective of the Vietnam Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) is to examine opportunities and challenges, both cross-sector and sector-specific, to strengthen private sector development and facilitate investments in Vietnam. The CPSD is closely aligned with the government’s strategic priorities (as outlined in Vietnam’s Socio- Economic Development Strategy [SEDS] 2021-2030 and the Vietnam 2035 report) and World Bank Group policy priorities and programs (WBG Vietnam Country Partnership Framework [CPF] FY18–FY22 and IFC’s Vietnam Country Strategy 2020–22). The CPSD relies on multiple data resources, including knowledge from the literature (including sectoral studies) and from World Bank Group staff, enterprise surveys, high frequency/ real-time data generated by private firms, and interviews and consultations with the private sector, Vietnamese authorities, and other external stakeholders. -
Publication
Innovation Agencies: Cases from Developing Economies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11-13)Many high-income and developing countries have established agencies to promote innovation. This study examines the origin and evolution, organizational structure, policy interventions, delivery challenges, and evaluation mechanisms of 13 innovation agencies in developing countries and one case (SPRING in Singapore) for comparison purposes. This study does not assume that the only approach to improving innovation lies in a dedicated agency – each innovation system is governed differently and the same intervention may have very different results in different contexts. Rather, our goal is to capture how these agencies dealt with the major challenges that confront establishing an innovation agency in a developing country context, where innovation is often hampered by significant market, coordination, and institutional failures, investments in innovation tend to be limited, and the capabilities required for effective innovation are often lacking. The analysis is presented according to seven building blocks that emerged from the analysis of the cases’ patterns and dynamics as pre-requisites for the success of innovation agencies, including a clear but adaptable mission, capable staff, effective governance and management structures, diagnostic-based interventions, robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E), sustainable funding, and strategic partnerships and networks. A diagnosis of NIS gaps and global trends is required to design policy interventions. -
Publication
Creating Markets in Kenya: Unleashing Private Sector Dynamism to Achieve Full Potential
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2019-07-31)Kenya has the opportunities and resources to stimulate sustainable economic growth and development, but its potential has been constrained by under-investment and low firm-level productivity. Altogether, its development has not been sufficiently sustainable or equitable to transform the lives of ordinary citizens. Poverty remains high, with thirty-six percent of Kenyans living under the national poverty line, whereas the richest ten percent of the population receive forty percent of the nation’s income. This country private sector diagnostic (CPSD) sheds light on how the private sector can more effectively contribute to advancing the country’s developmental goals. Applying a sectoral lens, it puts forward operational recommendations highlighting strategic entry points for diversification and growth and addresses key constraints to private sector engagement. It also seeks to inform World Bank and IFC strategies, paving the way for joint programming to create markets and unlock private sector potential. -
Publication
Creating Markets in Burkina Faso: Growing Burkina Faso’s Private Sector and Harnessing it to Bolster Economic Resilience
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2019-07-01)A small landlocked economy in the heart of West Africa’s French-speaking Sahel, Burkina Faso is characterized by its modest economic size, with a rapid population growth, with one of the highest per capita birth rates in the world. Burkina Faso needs to create 300,000 jobs annually to match its demographic growth, while about ninety percent of its workers are in the informal sector. Despite sustained robust economic growth over the past two decades driven by cotton and gold exports, private investment is low. Compounding the considerable development challenges that it faces, Burkina Faso is currently confronted by acute security and climatic threats, together with emerging fiscal risks. This country private sector diagnostic (CPSD) therefore investigates whether opportunities exist for the private sector to contribute more substantially to Burkina Faso’s development. The CPSD proposes a platform for action aimed at boosting Burkina Faso’s development through greater private sector investment. The remainder of the report provides an overview of: (i) the private sector environment; (ii) the cross-cutting constraints to the private sector; (iii) the critical enabling sector bottlenecks to the private sector; (iv) the opportunities for the private sector; and (v) a series of priority private sector focused recommendations. -
Publication
Yemen Bringing Back Business Project: Risky Business - Impact of Conflict on Private Enterprises
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06)Escalating in March 2015, the conflict spanning across Yemen has resulted in massive casualties, a wave of internally displaced persons, substantial infrastructure damage, and hampered service delivery across both the economy and society. The business climate across Yemen has dramatically deteriorated as a result of the conflict, and businesses throughout the country experienced severe disruptions that for many firms constituted a force majeure situation, hindering their ability to either operate effectively or plan ahead for the future. Addressing these challenges requires substantial effort by the GoY and the international community to support the resilience of the private sector and prevent its further deterioration and losses. The loss of private sector wealth and activity of this magnitude is part and parcel to the food insecurity, poverty, public health issues, and defunct service provision that plagues the war-fatigued population. As such, both in the future post-conflict setting and at present, engaging and revitalizing the Yemeni private sector is a crucial and indispensable step towards the successful reconstruction and recovery of Yemen, and the long-term well-being of the population. -
Publication
Creating Markets in Morocco: A Second Generation of Reforms - Boosting Private Sector Growth, Job Creation and Skills Upgrading
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2019-06-01)Morocco has steered significant resources towards large investments in economic sectors identified as strategic to growth, and for increased productivity and value addition. Despite Morocco’s strikingly high investment rate, one of the highest in the world at an average of thirty-four percent of gross domestic product (GDP) annually since the mid-2000s, the returns in economic growth, job creation and productivity, have been disappointing. The Moroccan economy has performed particularly poorly in terms of job creation. A more vibrant private sector is needed to create more jobs. This CPSD identifies policy recommendations and investment opportunities that would foster job creation by the formal private sector and improve labor supply in skills that would anchor Morocco as an emerging economy, to continue its path of growth, and to move into higher value-added and innovative sectors. -
Publication
Towards a Private Sector led Growth Model: Bosnia and Herzegovina Innovation and Entrepreneurship Assessment
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04-20)The growth landscape of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is undermined by adverse productivity developments and weak private sector development. BiH is still finding a pathway to rebalance its current public sector-led growth model to a private sector-led one. In this light, enhancing innovation and entrepreneurship (I and E) is a key priority for BiH. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the current I and E landscape in BiH and offers a roadmap for innovation policy reforms. It showcases current I and E outcomes in BiH and provides analysis of whether current support policies and programs in BiH (including public budget allocations) address existing market failures. The report concludes that recent policy measures have not effectively addressed BiH's needs for supporting I and E, specifically in terms of access to skills, ease of business regulations, and predictability of business environment. To this end, this report offers a roadmap for policy reforms as well as suggestions for pilot programs. -
Publication
Creating Markets in Angola: Opportunities for Development Through the Private Sector
(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2019-04-01)This Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) identifies opportunities to stimulate sustainable economic growth and development by harnessing the power of the private sector in Angola. Applying a sectoral lens, it leverages the private sector’s knowledge and experience to accelerate transformational investment. It also puts forward operational recommendations highlighting strategic entry points for diversification and growth, while addressing key constraints to private sector engagement. The CPSD discusses implementation principles inspired by international good practices. It informs World Bank and IFC strategies, paving the way for joint programming to create markets and unlock private sector potential.