Ethiopia - Privatization Technical Assistance Project

The Privatisation Technical Assistance Project aims to promote a dynamic private sector development. It is part of the privatization programme initiated by the Ethiopian of Government (GOE). The GOE has demonstrated its determination to vigorously implement this privatisation program. For the first phase of the program, the EPA privatised 176 (mostly small-scale) PEs. Under the current phase of the program, the GOE has prepared a Privatisation Action Plan involving the divestiture of 123 PEs, out of which 80 are expected to be brought to the point of sale by June 2001. Together with the support being provided by the World Bank and the GTZ, the ADF project should support the implementation of the Privatisation Action Plan. In addition, the privatisation of public enterprises would relieve tied resources and permit the Government to redeploy its scarce resources into areas of higher priority and poverty-focused projects and programs. The project consists of six components, namely: (i) transactions support; (ii) institutional support (technical assistance, provision of equipment and training); (iii) public awareness promotion; (iv) post privatisation monitoring and impact analysis (v) Environmental Audit; (vi) Ethiopian Privatisation Agency (EPA) operating Support.