| Headline: The politics of privatizing power Source: Euromoney Date: April 2001 Author: Nigel Dudley Those central and eastern European countries that have pushed furthest and fastest with privatization have benefited from healthy government finances, restructuring and modernization of key industries and enhanced economic growth. That’s undeniable. But privatization remains ever politically contentious. Selling their banking systems to foreigners was hard to stomach, and now these countries are selling even more essential services, their energy generators and power distributors. If they can maintain the political will, at least governments will find buyers in these sectors, unlike in telecommunications.
In many ways it was a model privatization. It was completed quickly. In contrast to some earlier sales, which had taken up to three years to finalize, there were less than eight months between pre-qualification and the final agreement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||