IFC Lessons of Experience No. 1F. This report reviews the experience of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in its role as advisor and investor in privatization transactions during the past decade. In pursuit of its mandate to further economic development by encouraging the growth of productive private enterprise in developing countries, the IFC has naturally and increasingly been involved in supporting this movement. The premise of the report is that privatization will always be partly based on political considerations, including expected redistribution of wealth and the resulting winners and losers. It discusses the IFC's experience from two perspectives: as an advisor involved before the sale, which illustrates how the IFC assists in the trade-off between political and economic goals to conclude a deal; and after privatization, which discusses the resulting economic benefits. The IFC asserts that its role in privatization is defined by the evolving frontiers of political commitment. Within those frontiers, it can help expand privatization possibilities by performing advisory assignments, providing necessary investments, and developing capital market institutions. The IFC demonstrates that privatization strategies can assume many forms with few set prescriptions. Other language editions: English (ISBN 0-8213-3447-6) Stock No. 13447 Russian -out of print-(ISBN 0-8213-3545-6) Stock No. 13545 Spanish -out of print-(ISBN 0-8213-3451-4) Stock No. 13451.

This study examines the fiscal impact of the pension reform adopted in Colombia in 1993, which established a fully funded, privately administered pension system alongside the existing pay-as-you-go state scheme. The reform increased the contribution rate and reduced the benefits of the state scheme. However, the fiscal cost of the reform was high, estimated at 1.5 to 2.3 percent of GDP annually over the next three decades. This reflects concessions made to special groups of public servants, the delay in making effective the new retirement conditions, and the minimum pension guarantee. A new generation of pension reforms needs to be adopted.

This volume represents the most important work to date on one of the pressing policy issues of the moment: the privatization of social security. Although social security is facing enormous fiscal pressure in the face of an aging population, there has been relatively little published on the fundamentals of essential reform through privatization. Privatizing Social Security fills this void by studying the methods and problems involved in shifting from the current system to one based on mandatory saving in individual accounts. "Timely and important. . . . [Privatizing Social Security] presents a forceful case for a radical shift from the existing unfunded, pay-as-you-go single national program to a mandatory funded program with individual savings accounts. . . . An extensive analysis of how a privatized plan would work in the United States is supplemented with the experiences of five other countries that have privatized plans." —Library Journal "[A] high-powered collection of essays by top experts in the field."—Timothy Taylor, Public Interest

IFC Lessons of Experience No. 1F. This report reviews the experience of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in its role as advisor and investor in privatization transactions during the past decade. In pursuit of its mandate to further economic development by encouraging the growth of productive private enterprise in developing countries, the IFC has naturally and increasingly been involved in supporting this movement. The premise of the report is that privatization will always be partly based on political considerations, including expected redistribution of wealth and the resulting winners and losers. It discusses the IFC's experience from two perspectives: as an advisor involved before the sale, which illustrates how the IFC assists in the trade-off between political and economic goals to conclude a deal; and after privatization, which discusses the resulting economic benefits. The IFC asserts that its role in privatization is defined by the evolving frontiers of political commitment. Within those frontiers, it can help expand privatization possibilities by performing advisory assignments, providing necessary investments, and developing capital market institutions. The IFC demonstrates that privatization strategies can assume many forms with few set prescriptions. Other language editions: English (ISBN 0-8213-3447-6) Stock No. 13447 Russian -out of print-(ISBN 0-8213-3545-6) Stock No. 13545 Spanish -out of print-(ISBN 0-8213-3451-4) Stock No. 13451.

"Formal pension systems are an important means of reducing poverty among the aged. In recent years, however, pension reform has become a pressing matter, as demographic aging, poor administration, early retirement, and unaffordable benefits have strained pension balances and overall public finances. Pension systems have become a source of macroeconomic instability, a constraint to economic growth, and an ineffective and/or inequitable provider of retirement income."

This paper provides an assessment of the funded pension system and the quality of the regulatory framework for both accumulation and payout phase. It suggests that the lack of portfolio diversification may contribute in the future to low returns and poor pensions and provides a number of recommendations to expand the opportunities of investments to pension funds. The paper also finds that pension fund administrators are not exploiting the scale economies in certain areas of the business such as collection of revenues and account management, and proposes mechanisms to reduce costs and increase efficiency through greater competition. The paper examines the products and options offered at retirement age and finds a bias toward the payment of pensions in the form of lump sums and suggests alternatives for improving the availability of other instruments. Enhancements to the regulatory framework of insurance companies are also proposed.