International Finance Corporation                                   1818 H Street, N.W.
                                                                      Washington, D.C 20433, U.S.A.




FOR RELEASE: EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE                             Ekwow Spio-Garbrah
             UNTIL JUNE 22, 1989                      CONTACT: ( 202) 473-7716
             Press Release No. 89/54


                  IFC REPORT SEES GOOD PROSPECTS IN COMING YEAR FOR
                     PRIVATE SECTOR IN MANY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES


        Washington, D.C., June 22, 1989....Private enterprises in those
    developing countries that, over the past decade, have invested
    considerable resources in infrastructur� and industry, diversified their
    manufacturing sector, and ·increased their exports have bright prospects
    for continued growth in the next 18 months.   This is the main conclusion
    of a new report, Prospects f�r the Private Sector in Developing
    Countries, issued by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) here
    today.


        IFC is the affiliate of the World aank whose mandate is to stimulate
    economic growth in developing countries through the private sector.           It
    fulfills this mandate by making equity and loan investments directly in
    private enterprises in member countries, by mobilizing other sources of
    financing, and through the provision of advisory services to governments
    and corporations.   The new publication is the first in a series of IFC
    annual reports on the business outlook in developing countries.


        In presenting the report, Mr. Guy Pfeffermann, Director of IFC's
    Economics Department, said that while "short-term business prospects for
    the majority of developing countries should continue to be quite good,
    business conditions in developing countries as a whole will be somewhat
    more difficult during the next 18 months than they were in 1988."        He
    explained that this is partly because protectionism is likely to continue
    to increase and commodity prices, which had favored many businesses in
    developing countries last year, seem to have stabilized.   Mr. Pfeffermann
    noted that the gradual slowing down of the United States economic


                                                                , .. I ...