Privatisation, an invention’ to export

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 29

Privatisation, an invention’ to export

By

TONY VERDON

in London Britain should export the idea of privatisation for the benefit of poorer countries, a Right-wing think tank has recommended in London. The Adam Smith Institute believes the British Government should set up a privatisation unit within the Overseas Development Administration, which is responsible for foreign aid. The unit would spread the success message of State sell-offs by encouraging foreign politicians to visit Britain and see what has been done, and maintain a large data bank and research library for their use. Foreign aid should go primarily to private sector projects instead of Government schemes, in what

the institute calls a “people not politicians” approach. The author of the report, Mr Peter Young, says the British Government is doing little to teach poorer nations the lessons it has learned about the benefits of selling public sector businesses, and how to get it right in practice. “Privatisation is another great British invention that we are letting other people take the credit for,” he says. He says the privatisation unit would be a sort of “flying doctor” service, helping poorer countries to assess which enterprises would benefit from the medicine of leaving the State sector. The institute has also proposed establishing a British privatisation ex-

port council, comprised of merchant banks, stockbroking firms and management consultants, to act as the Prime Minister’s privatisation sales team overseas. It has sent an 80-page report called “Privatisation in Practice” to Government leaders in the developing world. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Nigel Lawson, says in the paper that it is now well over seven years since the first British company was privatised as the first step in a long-term programme. “In the early days, privatisation was regarded with considerable scepticism and doubt. It was often derided as a shortterm gimmick. Today it is an established part of the political and ■ economic landscape,” he said.