OREANDA-NEWS. The Ministry of Economic Development has been instructed to develop a more ambitious privatization plan. This was announced to reporters by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov. Being asked about when exactly the plan will be developed, Siluanov answered: “The Ministry is working on it.”

The politician announced the need for a “more ambitious” privatization program on October 19 after a meeting with foreign investors in Washington, USA. Siluanov noted that the Ministry of Economic Development should prepare a list of companies that are not decisive for Russia, for example, in the oil and gas industry and the banking sector. As the First Deputy Prime Minister explained, first of all, small enterprises will be included in the privatization list, but large ones should also be considered. He added that privatization is needed to reduce the state’s share in the economy, but not for the purpose of increasing budget revenues.

The idea of ​​ambitious privatization was supported by the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Alexei Kudrin. He noted, however, that this had to be discussed before the state budget was approved.

Later, the Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said that the state share in all companies except defense enterprises should be reduced to at least 50 %, and in some cases to 25 % or to zero. At the moment, he said, privatization is moving slowly.

Transneft oil pipeline company (78.5 % of shares belong to the Federal Agency for State Property Management) has already been included in the privatization plan for 2020–2022. There is no RZD company (Russian Railways, the government owns 100 % of its shares) in this list.