Privatisation and adjustment in Mozambique: a 'hospital pass'?

Mozambique's privatisation has been one of the largest, by number of transa ctions, in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the main basis for claims that the p rogramme has been one of the most successful. This paper critically evaluat es the only available study (by the World Bank) of the impact of privatisat ion in Mozambique. Privatisation has been hasty and careless. Contrary to t he public finance objectives of privatisation, there has also been a form o f subsidy to the private sector, through payment deferral and default. This subsidy appears indiscriminate, unplanned and highly inefficient. Yet it i s one key to an alternative perspective on privatisation, focusing on the i nternal dynamics and beneficiaries since the early 1980s. This real politic al economy of privatisation in Mozambique confounds the already over-burden ed exercises of evaluation. There is an urgent need for more careful data c ollection on privatisation in Mozambique.