For many, privatisation and commercialisation are simply a massive fire sale of government assets by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and its implementation arm, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). However, on a scale of one to ten, privatisation and commercialisation combined could be ascribed only about five points out of ten. In comparison, sector reforms alone would account for the remaining five points, which is a whopping 50 percent. But of course, all that the public talks about is “how our collective assets are being disposed of” by the BPE in particular

The point is often made that when you privatise, you sell only one enterprise, but when you reform, you open up an entire sector, thereby creating many more enterprises in the sector through the creation of an enabling environment for private sector participation.