# mH. **The Recent Wave of Privatizations. 1988-1992**

# **11.1 The Datn**

In order to evaluate the magnitude of privatizations in recent years, a database was compiled at a micro-level for the period 1988-1992, which is presented in the Appendix in Tables A-1 and A-2. In general, the data are based on publicly available information from numerous sources ranging from newspaper and joumal articles to direct information from privatization agencies and m.nistries as well as country operations, regional support groups, and resident missions within the World Bank. 13 For the purpose of this study, privatizations are defined as the transfer of productive assets from the public to the private sector involving some type of sale agreement. This includes **all** direct sales of public assets to private investors in the form of public offers or private sales. It also includes the contracting out of government services through concessions or licensing agreements. Any divestitures of SOEs in the form of simply shutting down operations and mothballing assets, on the other hand, are not included. This should not be interpreted as implying that such mothballing are considered unimportant. In fact, the benefits of shutting down inefficient enterprises can be substantial in the long-run through the elimination of sectoral distortions as well as through the alleviation of budget pressures resulting fro.n subsidy and transfer payments for the purpose of covering losses. Typically, however, this strategy is restricted to relatively minor operations with small asset value, thus not contributing significantly to the evaluation of privatization programs when measured in monetary units. In addition, data on this type of divestitures are not easy to come by and, even if available, are far from comprehensive.

Some warnings regarding the interpretation of these data are necessary. First of all, despite the already extensive list of individual transactions, any claims regarding completeness of this data set cannot possibly be made. For one, it can be expected that many small-scale privatizations have been carried out by governments which are not listed here, because individual transaction information is plain not available. For the sake of consistency, projects with a sales value of less than $50,000 were excluded, even if information was available. In addition, some countries might not appear in the list, despite having carried out privatization projects, simply having escaped the author's attention. This might be true in particular for some Sub-Saharan African countries, whose privatization programs are in terms of monetary units so small in comparison to other countries, that the, are usually not mentioned in standard sources. With respect to individual transaction information, great care has been taken to verify and update all data. However, for many projects certain pieces of information could not be obtained. In some cases, it was also impossible to distinguish between sales price and committed investments. Especially in the case of Eastern Europe, privatization contracts are often written such that the buyer commits to a certain amount of future investments besides the actual cash transfer for the purchased asset itself This makes it difficult to determine the 13 For more information on data sources and details on data compilation and estimation refer to the Appendix.

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