Siluanov called privatization one of the sources of budget replenishment

The Ministry of Finance is considering privatization as one of the possible sources of budget replenishment. This was stated by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

“I can say that we have one more resource – of course, this is privatization, and we could look further next year at the sale of certain state assets <...> without loss of state control. But this is a more targeted question, I wouldn’t even like to dwell on any specific examples now, this issue should be discussed in the government,” he said (quote according to TASS).

Previously Vedomosti wrotethat the state does not plan to sell shares in the largest companies next year. From the information of the newspaper’s interlocutors, the public discussion about the need to privatize key assets, which was actively conducted this summer, did not move into the formal plane: the government did not hold a single meeting where this topic appeared.

In April, the chairman of the bank’s board VTB Andrey Kostin offered restart privatization due to the destruction of the “supporting elements” of the Russian economy due to sanctions. In May, Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Moiseev statedthat large-scale privatization should take place in Russia, but for this a market needs to be formed.

On June 15, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the issue of privatization located is constantly on the agenda, many in the government support it. At the same time, he clarified that privatization “is always the end result,” with the exception of sectors where private business cannot physically ensure the consolidated development of the industry.