Czech Privatization and Corporate Governance

The rapid privatization of the Czech economy has contributed to its first rank in the economic performance of the post-communist countries. The claim that 75 per cent of its GDP originates in the private sector may, however, be only formally true. Many of the voucher-privatized former state-owned enterprises and financial institutions are still influenced through core stakes in their share capital by the Fund of National Property and by their mutual interdependence. This article concludes that full privatization will likely be attained through a hybrid of German and American corporate governance systems.