PURSUING EFFICIENCY WHILE MAINTAINING OUTREACH: BANK PRIVATIZATION IN TANZANIA

Profitability improvements after the privatization of a large state-owned bank might come at the expense of reduced access to financial services for some groups, especially the rural poor. The privatization of Tanzania's National Bank of Commerce provides a unique episode for studying this issue. The bank was split into the "new" National Bank of Commerce, a commercial bank that assumed most of the original bank's assets and liabilities, and the National Microfinance Bank, which assumed most of the branch network and the mandate to foster access to financial services. The new National Bank of Commerce's profitability and portfolio quality improved although credit growth was slow, in line with privatization experiences in other developing countries. Finding a buyer for the National Microfinance Bank proved very difficult, although after years under contract management by private banking consultants, Rabobank of the Netherlands emerged as a purchaser. Profitability has since improved and lending has slowly grown, while the share of non-performing loans remains low.access to banking; access to banking services; access to financial services; access to services; Accounting; Agricultural Bank; asset allocation; asset portfolio; ATMs

Healthy Firms: Constraints to Growth among Private Health Sector Facilities in Ghana and Kenya

Background: Health outcomes in developing countries continue to lag the developed world, and many countries are not on target to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The private health sector provides much of the care in many developing countries (e.g., approximately 50 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa), but private providers are often poorly integrated into the health system. Efforts to improve health systems performance will need to include the private sector and increase its contributions to national health goals. However, the literature on constraints private health care providers face is limited. Methodology/Principal Findings: We analyze data from a survey of private health facilities in Kenya and Ghana to evaluate growth constraints facing private providers. A significant portion of facilities (Ghana: 62 percent; Kenya: 40 percent) report limited access to finance as the most significant barrier they face; only a small minority of facilities report using formal credit institutions to finance day to day operations (Ghana: 6 percent; Kenya: 11 percent). Other important barriers include corruption, crime, limited demand for goods and services, and poor public infrastructure. Most facilities have paper-based rather than electronic systems for patient records (Ghana: 30 percent; Kenya: 22 percent), accounting (Ghana: 45 percent; Kenya: 27 percent), and inventory control (Ghana: 41 percent; Kenya: 24 percent). A majority of clinics in both countries report undertaking activities to improve provider skills and to monitor the level and quality of care they provide. However, only a minority of pharmacies report undertaking such activities

Paris is not enough: Toward an Information Technology (IT) enabled transnational climate policy

The 2015 Paris Agreement was undoubtedly an important diplomatic achievement. Organizations and experts have rallied around it, all the more since the attack against the agreement by the current US administration. This rally has led to a collective unwillingness to acknowledge what the evidence already tells us: the Paris Agreement and the currently dominant, international approach to climate change policy will not work. Much faster and more decisive change is needed; a paradigm shift. We need a policy which provides for a realistic yet rapid transition from our dependence on cheap fossil fuels to deep decarbonization and a sustained reliance on renewable sources of energy. We argue in this paper that, thanks to advances in Information Technology (IT) and social media, viable options exist for an alternative global, transnational climate policy. Three key principles have to be followed: (i) gradual expansion across boundaries; (ii) use of economic incentives to compel behavioral change; and (iii) a close link between the price of carbon and the use of raised funds. The funds from the climate risk surcharge collected on fossil fuels at the source, a central piece of the proposal, are to be used for subsidizing adaption to and insurance against damage from climate change. The paper argues that the challenges in terms of information requirements and institutional resistance can be overcome if IT solutions are deployed within a public-private governance framework that protects the public interest.ISSN:2214-629

Pursuing efficiency while maintaining outreach: Bank privatization in Tanzania

Profitability improvements after the privatization of a large state-owned bank might come at the expense of reduced access to financial services for some groups, especially the rural poor. The privatization of Tanzania's National Bank of Commerce provides a unique episode for studying this issue. The bank was split into the "new" National Bank of Commerce, a commercial bank that assumed most of the original bank's assets and liabilities, and the National Microfinance Bank, which assumed most of the branch network and the mandate to foster access to financial services. The new National Bank of Commerce's profitability and portfolio quality improved although credit growth was slow, in line with the privatization experiences in other developing countries. Finding a buyer for the National Microfinance Bank proved very difficult, although after years under contract management by private banking consultants, Rabobank of the Netherlands emerged as a purchaser. Profitability has since improved and lending has slowly grown, while the share of non-performing loans remains low.Bank privatization Tanzania Africa Access to finance

Reasons health facilities did not apply for a loan in the past three years.

<p> <i>Notes: Responses refer to activity in the past three years. Columns do not sum to 100 as facilities were allowed to choose multiple reasons for not applying for a loan.</i></p

Use of human resource and quality assurance systems.

<p> <i>Notes: Percentages reflect fraction of facilities reporting that they carry out each of the human resource and quality assurance activities.</i></p

Note: Graph shows percent of firms responding that an obstacle is the most significant barrier that firm faces.

<p>Source: World Bank Enterprise Surveys for Kenya (2007) and Ghana (2007). Available online at: <a href="http://www.enterprisesurveys.org/" target="_blank">http://www.enterprisesurveys.org/</a>. Data are for manufacturing firms.</p

Loan application and expansion activity in the past three years.

<p> <i>Notes: All questions ask about activity in the past three years.</i></p

Registration rates by country and facility type.

<p>Registration rates by country and facility type.</p