Glimpses of an alternative: the possibility of public ownership in the World Bank's latest PSD strategy paper

This paper discusses the latest draft of the World Bank Private Sector Development Strategy (PSD - December 2001). The article appears to have taken into account some of the criticisms raised in connection with earlier drafts.

The article finds that:

• the latest PSD draft makes a number of concessions on the previous strong line in favour of private participation in basic services, and refers repeatedly to the need for a case by case approach
• in the summary the draft goes so far as to suggest that the public sector has a fundamental role in some services
• the policy conclusions of the paper appear to be regrettably insulated from the reasoning contained in these statements