Credit: "Columbus Taking Possession" by L. Prang & Co., Boston. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
As the global economy limps along with low expected growth rates or recession in major emerging economies, the World Bank and other donor agencies have embraced a new cure-all for poverty reduction and development called ‘Public-Private Partnerships’ or ‘PPPs.’ Though the term is still ambiguous, these arrangements are basically long-term contracts between a government and a private entity for the provision of a public service. In principle, PPPs are meant to transfer risk from governments, while businesses gain through revenue generation and the receipt of assets or guarantees from the state.
