BF-Competitiveness & Enterprise Development Project

closed

The Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project for Burkina Faso will assist Burkina Faso to improve the competitiveness of its economy through privatization and utility reform, investment climate improvement and private sector institutional development, and mitigation of constrains to small and medium enterprise development. To achieve these objectives, the project will provide support to: a) rollback government involvement in the market's domain through privatization and actions to foster competition; b) carry out utility reform, particularly the telecommunications and energy sectors; and c) promote the development of a strong and competitive private sector by improving the business environment and reducing systemic risk through the provision of effective business development services (BDS), and micro-finance services to micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The project has three components: 1) privatization and utility reform; 2) support to enterprise development; and 3) support to project coordination unit and audits. In order so succeed in this reform, the Government will need to maintain its commitment to transparency of the privatization transactions and provide the required budgetary support. In the area of utility reform particularly, the project will help reduce the cost of infrastructure services and increase access.