MOSCOW: Russia’s prime minister said yesterday he hoped to raise more than $5.5bn this year by selling stakes in state companies, reviving a delayed privatisation programme that could spur a flagging economy.
At a meeting with deputy prime ministers, Dmitry Medvedev also sounded a note of caution, saying the sale of shares in companies such as Rosteleom or shipping group Sovcomflot could happen only in good market conditions.
Launched in 2010 by then Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, the $50bn privatisation drive to reduce the state’s direct role in the economy and improve a much-criticised investment climate has been dogged by delays.
Assets have since been removed from the lists, prey to volatile markets and a tug-of-war between more liberal-minded politicians and hardliners favouring a slower approach to privatisation.
“Just this year, we have a quite serious privatisation plan to raise 200bn roubles ($5.7bn), and I hope that these plans will be fulfilled,” Medvedev told the meeting.
“(The approach to privatisation) should be balanced. We should not delay but at the same time we should consider the economic circumstances in the world and in the country.”
Russia’s economic growth has slowed, reaching just over one percent last year after hitting an average seven percent before the 2008/09 financial crisis. Privatisation revenues would help meet generous election promises made by President Vladimir Putin.
Last June, Russia halved its privatisation target for 2014 to around $5.5 billion after many previously planned sales were stalled because of adverse market conditions. The results of the sales so far have been mixed.
Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, attracted strong investor demand for its stake sale in 2012, raising more than $5bn, and the country’s second-largest bank, VTB, last year won sovereign backing for a $3.3bn share issue.
But a 16 percent stake in state diamond miner Alrosa was priced at the bottom of a planned range, valued at $1.3bn, in October.
Reuters
