• In 1992, completed privatizations in developing countries numbered in the thousands -- raising $23.1 billion.

• The number of privatizing countries rose from 12 in 1988 to 43 in 1995 .

• The value of the sales as a proportion of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the privatizing countries has remained fairly stable at about 0.5 percent from 1988 to 1995.

The World Bank data cover 88 countries that sold $135 billion worth of assets in 3,801 transactions of more than $50,000 over the 1988-1995 period. By region, the data show:

• Latin America and the Caribbean was the leading privatizing region, with total sales of almost $54 billion or 46 percent of the total amount of proceeds from privatization.

• East Asia was next with sales of $28 billion or 25 percent, followed by Europe and Central Asia (which includes the formerly planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union) with almost $20 billion or 17 percent.

• The rest of the developing world combined was responsible for only about 12 percent of the value of sales.

Since state ownership represents about 10 percent of GDP in developing countries on average, these numbers suggest there are still a lot of assets in state hands.

Privatizations have a particularly strong influence over decisions to invest, and each dollar of privatization revenue generates an extra 38 cents in new investment -- with financial and infrastructure privatizations having the most positive effect on other foreign direct investment.