Private Sector Development, Privatization, and Industrial Policy

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  • Publication
    Creating Markets in Eswatini : Strengthening the Private Sector to Grow Export Markets and Create Jobs - Country Private Sector Diagnostic
    (Washington, DC, 2022-09) International Finance Corporation
    Eswatini is facing multiple challenges. It was already experiencing weak economic growth before the COVID-19 pandemic, a reflection of longstanding, deeply rooted issues such as fiscal unsustainability, declining private investment, weakening productivity and competitiveness, and falling export diversification and complexity, compounded by the impact of climate shocks. It shifted from a private investment–led higher-growth model to a government spending–led lower-growth model after the end of apartheid in South Africa. With weak investment in productive sectors, Eswatini’s job market failed to keep pace with an expanding, younger labor force, leading to a large informal sector. Eswatini’s public sector–driven growth model is unsustainable under current fiscally constrained conditions, and there is a need to reduce and reprioritize public spending. An assessment of existing sectoral data and consultations with Eswatini’s private sector and policy makers suggest that four sectors can help drive the export-led private sector growth model. To return to an export-led growth model, Eswatini needs to increase export competitiveness by advancing regulatory reforms and improvements in trade logistics that include regional collaboration to address trade facilitation constraints. Finally, given the country’s vulnerability to climate risks, policies to foster economic resilience amid extreme weather events (mainly droughts that affect agriculture) and improve disaster preparedness need to be pursued. The private sector must adapt to this challenge and work with the government to improve climate resilience.
  • Publication
    Gearing Up for the Future of Manufacturing in Bangladesh
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-21) Gu, Yunfan; Nayyar, Gaurav; Sharma, Siddharth
    Labor-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing driven by the ready-made garments industry has transformed Bangladesh's economy. But with automation, changing trade patterns and servicification reducing the importance of wage costs globally, the creation of more sustainable jobs in the manufacturing sector now needs the upgradation of firms' capabilities and technology adoption. Drawing on the World Bank's "Bangladesh Firm-level Adoption of Technology Survey", this report shows that there is significant scope to improve the manufacturing sector's performance and future prospects by promoting the adoption of better technologies in firms. It discusses how Bangladesh can achieve this aim through policies that address informational barriers to the acquisition of capabilities in firms, leverage international connectivity for technology diffusion, and strengthen key markets and institutions that underpin firms investment in technology.
  • Publication
    Thailand Manufacturing Firm Productivity Report
    (World Bank, Bangkok, 2020-06-17) World Bank
    Thailand is an enduring development success story. Between the late 1960s and mid-1990s, strong and sustained economic growth propelled the country from low-income to upper-middle-income status. To achieve high-income status by 2037, the authorities will need to draw on the experiences of other upper-middle-income countries that have successfully completed the transition, as well as those that continue to struggle. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has severely impacted growth in Thailand, with the economy expected to contract in 2020 amid heightened uncertainty surrounding the path of the pandemic. This report focuses on the manufacturing sector builds on a framework that emphasizes the microeconomic and macroeconomic linkages of the sources of productivity growth. In line with this framework, Chapter 1 begins with an overview of Thailand’s productivity dynamics at the macroeconomic level and identifies the causes of its slowing GDP growth rate.7 Chapter 2 analyzes the characteristics of Thai manufacturing firms and sub-sector productivity dynamics, revealing the drivers of firm productivity and distinguishing the relative contributions of within-firm effects, between-firm effects, and market dynamism. Chapter 3 evaluates the impact of competition on firm productivity by comparing market entry and exit indicators with price markups. Chapter 4 concludes with a set of policy recommendations designed to boost firm productivity in Thailand’s manufacturing sector.
  • Publication
    Benchmarking Madagascar’s Free Zone Competitiveness
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-17) World Bank
    The Government of Mauritius is implementing the Mauritius Africa Strategy, which is focused on positioning Mauritius as a bridge for investment and trade in order to open new markets in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A cornerstone of this strategy is sharing the successful experience of Mauritius in providing an attractive business environment bundled with good infrastructure and services in order to accelerate investments in trade, services and manufacturing in SSA countries. This technical note is in response to a request from both the MAF and Government of Mauritius and the EDBM and GoM for: i) an update of the current status of the SEZ regime in Madagascar i.e. policy, legal, regulatory and institutional framework and current proposals being considered by the GoM as well as opportunities for improvement, ii) benchmarking Madagascar’s main competitors in the global textile and apparel markets (such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya) and comparing their SEZ regimes for textile and garment zones to identify competitiveness strengths and weaknesses and lessons learned, and iii) outline opportunities for successful development of the proposed zone for consideration by both the GoM and the MAF and Government of Mauritius.
  • Publication
    Deep Versus Shallow PTAs: Rules Affecting Competition Dynamics–Antitrust, Competitive Neutrality, and Pro-Competition Economic Regulation
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-01) Martinez Licetti, Martha; Miralles Murciego, Graciela; De Aguiar Falco, Guilherme; Ore Monago, Tilsa; Ringeling, Camila
    Even though many countries have opened to trade, markets in developing economies oftenunderperform due to anticompetitive behavior and restrictive regulatory frameworks by a fewdominant players. Effective competition policies offer a tool to complement and support governments’ efforts to reduce barriers to trade. Active competition among market players has the potential to mitigate vested interests and facilitate the opening of markets to trade and investment. Greater competition within national markets reinforces international competitiveness of potential exporters through increased incentives to foster productivity, innovation and efficiency. Additionally, international trade reinforces competition in national markets by increasing contestability, entry and rivalry through increased presence of foreign products, services and investments. Empirical evidence suggests, for example, that: (i) the elimination of entry barriers, increased rivalry and leveling the playing field in upstream sectors contribute to export competitiveness in downstream manufacturing sectors; (ii) pro-competition market regulation that reduces restrictions and promotes competition is an important determinant for trade; (iii) competition law enforcement can be traced to export performance and is complementary to trade reforms; and (iv) industries with more intense domestic competition will export more.
  • Publication
    Creating Markets in Ethiopia: Sustaining Progress Towards Industrialization
    (International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2019-03-20) World Bank; International Finance Corporation
    Ethiopia has made impressive strides along its developmental path. Job creation is now the critical development challenge, raising the importance of the private sector agenda. After more than a decade of sustained public sector-led growth, the government is revising its growth strategy to allow for a much greater role for the private sector in driving growth and job creation. Broadening the base for job creation beyond light manufacturing toward a wider range of high productivity agricultural and services activities will help to overcome the uneven spatial distribution of manufacturing jobs across the country. Ethiopia has a number of advantages that it can leverage to attract the investment needed for job creation. These include rapidly improving transport and energy infrastructure, low labor costs, a large and growing domestic market, cheap power, an ideal climate, and preferential market access to the European Union, the United States, and other major markets. The purpose of the Ethiopia country private sector diagnostic (CPSD) is to support the transition to a private sector- driven growth model that advances the country’s development objectives and, in particular, delivers the necessary jobs. It identifies investment opportunities that can materialize in the short term, and the reforms that are needed to enable these opportunities to emerge. It also discusses how specific actions by the public sector, in collaboration with the private sector, in filling gaps in public investment, reforming business regulations and trade policy, addressing market failures, and enhancing the efficiency of key backbone services and sectors, while tackling gender inequalities, can fully unleash the potential of private sector investment.
  • Publication
    Creating Markets in Ghana: Country Private Sector Diagnostic
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-11) World Bank Group
    The objective of the Ghana Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) is to identify the main opportunities for the private sector that will have a strong development impact in Ghana and to highlight the key constraints (both cross-cutting and sector-specific) hampering private sector growth. The CPSD consists of a systematic assessment of all of Ghana’s economic sectors along two dimensions: (a) desirability: how private investments in these sectors could help Ghana to address its development challenges; and (b) expected feasibility: how the constraints standing in the way could be removed. This sector scan led to identification seven priority sectors, of which, three were selected to conduct deep dive studies: namely agribusiness, ICT and education.Four main opportunities exist for the private sector to make a major contribution by creating markets in Ghana. First, the private sector can help to develop new high-value export markets, such as horticulture and ICT-enabled services, in which Ghana is already well positioned. Second, the private sector can leverage ICT to improve the performance of Ghana’s most important sectors, including for improving government activities and services. Third, the private sector can help to promote efficiency and innovation in the key social sectors of education and health. Fourth, the private sector can play an important role in helping to address the main cross-cutting constraints, such as facilitating trade, providing competitive green energy, opening rural land markets, developing technical skills, and financing promising small and medium enterprises (SMEs).There are fewer opportunities for transformative private sector investments in the other sectors (mining, tourism, retail, construction, water and sanitation, and manufacturing).Ghana can seize these opportunities through a mix of public and private interventions:The government should pursue essential economic reforms to resolve the energy crisis by reforming the regulatory framework for electricity tariffs; facilitating trade, through customs reforms and the Ghana Community Network Systems;These reforms would pave the way for the private sector to invest in projects with a high development impact, including through large firms. Such opportunities already exist in Ghana in the three priority sectors of ICT, agribusiness and education that are reviewed in this report.The government should also consider supporting the entry of ‘pioneer’ investors, which are often in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI).Supporting promising SMEs will also be critical, especially during their acceleration phase.This could be achieved through a combination of public financing and capacity building, technical support adapted to the sector in which they operate, and risk-sharing and mezzanine finance facilities. Similar to the pioneer investors, such support should be provided in an inclusive, transparent and competitive manner. Examples of promising SMEs were found in all three deep-dive sectors.
  • Publication
    Creating Markets in Kazakhstan: Country Private Sector Diagnostic
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-11) World Bank Group
    The first section identifies the overlaps between Kazakhstan's development objectives and the goals of IFC's new strategy of creating markets for the private sector. Kazakhstan's development objectives are to increase diversification, employment, and productivity. These are based on the government's 2030 Strategy and 2020 Plan, as well as World Bank Group (WBG) country assessments. Operationalizing the IFC 3.0 strategy requires identifying the markets with the greatest potential to help meet these objectives. The approach amounts to: (a) identifying those sectors with the greatest market potential which, if realized, would have the greatest impact on development objectives; (b) providing an assessment of what is preventing the realization of market potential; and (c) indicating the IFC and WB activities that should be the top priorities to help meet this double bottom-line of development impact and market creation. The assessment in the second section indicates that the sectors with the greatest unrealized development and market potential are food-grains, meat and poultry, and cross-Kazakhstan transport and logistics. The market potential assessment relies on quantitative tools (multiplier models, product space and competitiveness benchmarking), expert interviews and a survey of policy reports. The assessment in the second section indicates that the sectors with the greatest unrealized development and market potential are food-grains, meat and poultry, and cross-Kazakhstan transport and logistics. The market potential assessment relies on quantitative tools (multiplier models, product space and competitiveness benchmarking), expert interviews and a survey of policy reports. The last section summarizes the priority horizontal reforms, sector-specific policies, and promising sectors with the potential for expansion and greater firm entry. The first part of this section is intended to inform the high-level dialogue between WBG management and Kazakhstani authorities. The second part is essentially the sector-wide measures without which private sector investments will not be forthcoming, recognizing that the aim is to create markets and expand private sector development. The third part identifies promising areas where private sector actors could play a catalytic role, recognizing the ease of playing such roles differs by sector: it is greatest for grains, somewhat less for meat, and least for transport and logistics.
  • Publication
    Looking Beyond the Horizon: A Case Study of PVH’s Commitment in Ethiopia’s Hawassa Industrial Park
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-06) Mihretu, Mamo; Llobet, Gabriela
    The story of how the PVH Corp. (referred to throughout this document as PVH) came to leada group of its top suppliers to build factories and a fabric mill in Ethiopia’s Hawassa IndustrialPark (HIP) is the study of a strong collaboration between a private company looking to optimizeits business model and a government aiming to transform its economy through global strategic repositioning. The success of this story hinges upon the intersection of their goals and a shared vision of development that includes a strong commitment to social and environmental goals.PVH was motivated to invest in Ethiopia to respond to shifts in the global apparel sector, its growing desire to retool its business model and to address its concerns about compliance with social and environmental standards in its traditional sourcing locations. PVH had decided to rethink its business model and to look beyond the horizon towards a new region in which tolocate its manufacturing base. To have better oversight and enforcement, PVH moved to adopta fully integrated vertical supply chain, including direct investment in one of the manufacturingfacilities.Key to Ethiopia’s success in attracting this important investor was the government’s ability and willingness to strategically evaluate its foreign direct investment (FDI) needs and strategy and to take steps to evolve into an attractive location for higher value-added export-oriented investment.This case study explains a private investor’s site selection process. It assesses the elements PVH prioritized when deciding to commit to Ethiopia, and specifically to HIP. The case study further assesses the government of Ethiopia’s strategy, level of readiness, interest, and commitment, and sets out some key challenges that lie ahead for this partnership. The case study is structured in ten sections. Section second offers a brief background on the textile and apparel industry, including an explanation of its value chain. It provides a brief corporate profile of PVH and its current global footprint and business model. Section third describes the site selection process: PVH´s initial explorations in Africa, its consideration of several African countries, and its initial conversations and negotiations with Ethiopian authorities. Section fourth discusses the Ethiopian government’s strategy to attract and expand export-oriented investments, including efforts to bolster the country’s competitiveness. This section attempts to offer some explanation why Ethiopia was the right fit at the right time and its level of readiness to land such an investment. It provides a brief profile of PVH’s Africa point of entry, the HIP. Section sixth covers the challenges that lie ahead for this-project---potential setbacks that will affect not only the consolidation and growth of the textiles and apparel industry in Ethiopia, but also the government’s vision of becoming the “manufacturing powerhouse of Africa.” Section eighth concludes with some key lessons from PVH’s decision to invest in Ethiopia. Such lessons may be relevant to countries or regions interested inattracting FDI and may be of particular interest to other African countries in their quest to attract major investments in the textile and apparel sector.
  • Publication
    Assessing the Potential for the Electronics and ICT Manufacturing Industry in Ethiopia
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-09-30) Zhihua Zeng, Douglas; Kayonde, Susan
    The report includes the analysis of global Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and electronics value chains, an assessment of Ethiopia’s current and potential participation in these regional and global networks, and an analysis of the country’s competitive positions in specific segments of the sector. The findings of these efforts have been used to provide strategic direction for the development of the sector and to draft an action plan and road map to implement the sectoral strategy in the short, medium, and long term. The analysis shows that the overall electronics and ICT industry is currently playing only a modest role in the Ethiopian economy, with a relatively limited presence of companies and commercial activity. The analysis also illustrates important differences in the competitive position across the various segments analyzed. In conclusion, the analysis has shown that the ICT and electronics industry has potential in Ethiopia, with a presence already emerging in selected segments.