The Polish government has become the latest in Europe to unveil an ambitious privatisation programme as it aims to raise 10bn Polish zlotys (€2.5bn) by the end of 2003.

The French government has asked banks to pitch for the future initial public offerings (IPOs) of Electricité de France (EdF) and Gaz de France (GdF) as well as capital increases in 11 other companies. Italy wants to raise €20bn ($19.4bn) from privatisations by the end of 2003 while Norway has also proposed a series of privatisations that could raise at least Nkr120bn (€15.9bn).