Africa: Setbacks to privatisations

The collapse of a flagship water privatisation in Tanzania, and opposition to both a planned privatisation of the state cotton board and the completed privatisation of the state railway in Mali, highlight the continuing struggle over pressure from the Bretton Woods institutions to privatise in Africa. In late May, the Tanzanian government pulled the plug on a deal with British company Biwater, which had been contracted in 2003 to bring water to the capital region. Privatisation of the capital's water system was a condition of both IMF support to Tanzania and for getting debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative.