During the 90s, most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean Region (LCR) supported by the World Bank, implemented a market-oriented reform in the energy sector to promote competition, economic regulation and greater private sector participation, as the main instruments to improve the quality, reliability and efficiency of energy services, and improve the government's fiscal position and increase affordable access to modern energy services for the poor. This report comprises an assessment of the energy sector reform in the region: its achievements, difficulties, lessons learnt and current status
an assessment of the future needs of the energy sector investment and financing requirements, constraints, and challenges
and a review of the role of development agencies in supporting the region's energy needs. The study is not a systematic analysis of the reform experience and needs of individual countries, which is not deemed necessary to define an energy strategy for the region, but rather an analysis of the main themes that are common to most countries, with reference to specific cases of individual countries, based on a review of the documentation available on the reform, and on current energy plans. The power sector reform in the region had a substantial positive fiscal impact. During the past 15 years, private investment in electricity in LCR amounted to about US03 bn, about 60 percent in divestiture of public assets, and 40 percent in green-field projects. Investments in divestiture peaked at about US1 bn at the time of the privatization of major distribution assets in Brazil, and almost vanished by 2002. Investments in green-field projects have been more stable during the past 10 years.