Privatisation and indigenous ownership: evidence from Africa

Over the last two decades, privatisation has become commonplace across Africa. According
to World Bank (2001: 259) data, by the end of 1999 3,529 privatisation transactions had
occurred across Africa with a total value of nearly US $8 billion, and, while some
governments are more active than others, in only ten of the fifty-three African countries had
no privatisation activity been recorded. The doubts prevalent in the early and mid-1990s, that
African governments would deliver on their commitments to privatise enterprises have
receded, and attention has increasingly focused on the terms on which enterprises have
entered the private sector.