The text provides an overview of privatization and emerging equity markets describes the role of privatization providing critical mass for new stock markets and examines investment opportunities that deepen existing stock markets.

The vigour of global economic expansion has been slowly diminishing in recent years. For many developing countries and economies in transition, per capita income has continued to fall, and poverty remains the single most important concern. Poverty eradication and the revitalization of worldeconomic and industrial growth therefore require a renewed commitment and sense of urgency from policy planners. Industrial Development Global Report 1997 addresses the challenge by focusing on the long-term dynamics of investment and economic growth. It thus emphasizes, as its central message,the crucial importance of economic growth, for which investment is a necessary condition. Part 1 of Global Report 1997 addresses the issues and challenges facing developing countries and economies in transition in their efforts to achieve the levels of investment required to ensure high economic growth. The role of industrial investment is examined from the perspective of globalindustrial change in different regions. The nexus between growth and investment is considered, the factors influencing the levels and efficiency of investment are highlighted and investment and manufacturing trends between 1970 and 1995 are analysed. The links between savings, investment andeconomic growth are investigated to determine the means of financing capital investment at the enterprise level and to find solutions to the problems faced by microenterprises and small enterprises in their efforts to expand. A special feature of Global Report 1997 is the prominence given togovernment policies as an instrument for the promotion of investment, with particular emphasis on the need to tailor such policies to global and national conditions. Part 2 of the Report presents a statistical annex on industrial indicators for 178 countries and territories around the world.

The increasing globalization of financial markets has resulted in a substantial increase in net private capital flows to developing countries, primarily the emerging economies of Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Until recently, investors have ignored opportunities in Africa. African markets caught investors' attention in 1994 with Kenya's 179% U.S. dollar returns leading world equity markets, along with six of the world's top ten markets being in Africa. With low levels of correlation between African and developed world markets, the African exchanges represent ideal portfolio diversification opportunities. Moreover, rates of return for African investments are among the highest returns in the world, yet African nations have not attracted the foreign direct investment that is required to change their economies. Dr. Clark's research examines the nature and evolution of Africa's emerging securities markets and their role in regional economic development. He shows that the continent's trading systems represent many different trading arrangements without standardized rules and procedures. African countries continue to implement reforms to strengthen the development of financial markets, but without the appropriate market microstructure and custodial arrangements international investors will not provide African projects with the equity capital required for further development. The government's role in the regulation of developing equity markets, therefore, is a critical element to the success of the reform process. Clark argues that freeing the economies to international competition will reap significant dividends for the continent's emerging economies. As the markets evolve, structural impediments will reduce, leading to increased efficiencies and lower capital costs.

This book provides a comprehensive overview and some economic analysis of China's economic reform experiences, particularly those since the late 1980s. It covers many institutional details of key aspects of the Chinese economy, including fiscal and monetary management, financial sector development, state-enterprise reform, international trade, foreign investment, decentralization and regional development. It is argued that while China has achieved a spectacular growth record over the past twenty years, and its reform efforts have successfully laid the foundation of a market-based economic management system, the country continues to face major challenges in sustaining its growth performance.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.