http://www.world-psi.org/en/trade-unions-and-campaigners-around-world-boycott-world-bank-consultation-public-privateTrade Unions and campaigners around the world accuse the World Bank of encouraging dangerous hidden debts. The boycott on the World Bank consultation on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) was launched after the World Bank ignored repeated calls to stop promoting PPPs that contain dangerous hidden debts. Most governments leave these costs out of the accounting books, which can lead to crippling hidden debt – especially damaging for world’s poorest countries.
Trade unions and campaigners from
around the world are boycotting the latest World Bank consultation on PPPs, due
to close on 28 February.
Research shows that Public Private Partnerships (PPPs – agreements
with the private sector to provide infrastructure and services normally
delivered by the state – are risky and expensive and contain numerous hidden
costs. Currently, most governments leave information about future debts, or
contingent liabilities, out of their accounting books, making PPPs look cheaper
and more efficient that traditional public procurement.
Trade Unions and NGOs the world over have launched the boycott after
their concerns about these hidden costs have been repeatedly ignored by the
World Bank – one of the biggest institutions promoting, arranging and funding
PPPs in some of the poorest countries in the world. The organisations
supporting the boycott said that they will no longer participate in public
consultations until the World Bank explicitly calls on countries to only
consider PPPs if their full costs and contingent liabilities are reported
on-balance sheet and registered as government debt. The expected costs and
impacts of PPPs should also be examined in advance, and compared to other
methods of delivering the public service.
“Public services are massive pools of potential corporate profit, and
PPPs serve to access them. The ‘clients’ are captive, the services are often
monopoly,” comments David Boys, Deputy General Secretary of PSI. “Research has shown that PPPs have failed to live up to their
promise. In most cases, they are an expensive and inefficient way of
financing infrastructure and services, since they conceal public borrowing,
while providing long-term state guarantees for profits to private
companies."
Full story at http://www.world-psi.org/en/trade-unions-and-campaigners-around-world-boycott-world-bank-consultation-public-private
