A Scorecard for Energy Reform in Developing Countries
Author: Robert Bacon Date: 4/1/1999 (PDF, 200KB)
A World Bank survey of 115 developing countries shows that on average in mid-1998 just 39 percent of key energy reform steps had been carried out. Only the upstream oil and gas sector shows a substantially higher degree of reform, largely because of the need to facilitate concession agreements for high-cost exploration and production. Private participation in energy is also fairly limited, as is privatization of existing assets--especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. There are large variations among countries in the number of reform steps taken, with most reforms concentrated in a small number of countries. Reform is most advanced in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the great majority of countries little or no reform has been done.