Revisiting privatization in the context of poverty alleviation: the case of Sudan

Privatization programmes in the developing world have often been assessed on the grounds of efficiency. In recent years a more critical literature with a focus on the distributional and poverty impact of privatization has emerged. This article contributes to that literature in two ways. First, it presents a broad framework of empirical analysis of the relationship between privatization and poverty. Second, it applies this framework to the case of Sudan in as much as the existing data and information permit. The results do not lend much support for the arguments that privatization contributes to the efforts of poverty alleviation through various channels such as efficiency, employment creation and revenue generation for government. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.