Resource information
The purpose of this study is to assess
the results of the World Bank Group's (WBG's)
private sector development (PSD)-related interventions
during the 1990s in the power sectors of some 80 developing
and transition countries and to answer four evaluation
questions: (i) how have private participation and the
WBG's role changed in the 1990s; (ii) to what extent
has the WBG's assistance supported its PSDE strategies;
(iii) what have been the results of the WBG's private
sector development in the electric power sector (PSDE)
interventions; and (iv) what are the lessons that should
guide the WBG's future business directions in promoting
PSDE. As WBG assistance in the power sector is still needed,
particularly at this time when foreign investors are
retreating from the sector, the study derives lessons from
experience to inform the ongoing implementation of the EBRS.
To date, PSDE practitioners have been learning by doing,
with the WBG having the advantage of institutional scope and
memory. The continually evolving practices in PSDE make
difficult the establishment of convincing theories about the
optimal sequencing of reforms, although the catalogue of
things to avoid continues to expand. Within the WBG, PSDE
practice is a moving target, making it particularly
difficult to establish evaluative benchmarks to measure
results, other than the stated objectives of the individual
PSDE project and the overall PSDE program (if any) at the
country level. Moreover, given the number of stakeholders
and practitioners (other than the WBG), as well as the
unpredictability of reform outcomes, it is challenging to
assess the extent to which WBG interventions were pivotal or
decisive catalysts of reform, and to recommend how this role
could be enhanced in the future.
