Russia to approve wider privatisation

The Russian government will approve in the next few weeks an extended list of state properties slated for privatization, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Monday. In June 2011, President Dmitry Medvedev urged the government to intensify its work to sell state properties and demanded the Cabinet present a broader privatization list by August 1. On August 3, 2011, the government published a preliminary plan of extending the list of the largest state companies slated for privatization. “We’ll try in the coming weeks to hold a meeting with (Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin and define the schedule. In any case, the privatization plan will be endorsed in the coming six to eight weeks,” Shuvalov said. The privatization plan will include share packages in the Novorossiysk Merchant Sea Port, Sovcomflot shipping company, Sberbank, VTB Bank, and Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports. By 2017, the government intends to fully privatize state oil major Rosneft, RusHydro hydropower holding, oil company Zarubezhneft, Inter RAO UES electricity trader, Alrosa diamond giant, Russian Agricultural Bank and Aeroflot. The government intends to halve its stakes in fully state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation and United Aircraft Corporation. By 2016, the government intends to cut its stakes in Federal Grid Company, Transneft oil pipeline monopoly, Russian Railways rail company and Uralvagonzavod machine-building plant to 75 per cent.