(Early 1994): World Bank Buys 5% Stake in Aguas Argentinas

The World Bank purchases a five percent stake in Aguas Argentinas, a consortium of private water companies that took over Buenos Aires’ public water utility in 1993. As the civil society organization Public Citizen will later note, the bank’s investment makes it “a lender in, partner in, and public relations arm of their ‘model privatization project.’” The 1993 privatization of the city’s water utility had been made under pressure from the World Bank and IMF. [Public Citizen, 6/14/2007]