• Public-private linkages

Public-private linkages

This paper offers a critical analysis of Bayliss and McKinley’s 2007 IPC Policy Research Brief on “Privatising Basic Utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa: the MDG Consequences”.

The author agrees with their statement that African governments were pushed into accepting private participation in basic infrastructure by international financial institutions and donors. However, he does cite three reasons for disagreeing with part of their diagnosis:

• Bayliss and Mckinley overestimate the ease of improving performance in state-owned firms
• they underestimate the amount of investment capital required in run-down African water and electricity sectors
• the Policy Research Brief does not mention the promising ‘hybrid’ experiments that combine local African private management with public ownership.

In a nutshell, the solution is not to eschew private investment, but rather find mechanisms to make it more politically acceptable, more socially responsible and more mutually beneficial.

• Full text of document
• Publisher details
• Send to a friend