Yesterday, the Government summarised the interim results of the state property privatisation programme. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that the failure to meet the programme targets had become a standard practice. The crisis has also played a role in this. Therefore, the Government decided to revise the approach to state property privatisation. For now, only the property worth less than 5 million roubles will be offered for privatisation. The rest will be put on hold until better times.
"I would like to mention that in recent times we have managed to streamline the federal property structure." Mr Putin said, opening the Government Presidium meeting. "The number of the federal unitary enterprises (FGUPs) has decreased by almost 40%. Several years ago the share of enterprises with state participation, where the Government did not have a controlling stake, was 77%. Today, it amounts to 39%."
It was still insufficient to meet the target, however. Last year, the budget received 7.19 billion roubles from property sales, which only accounts for 60% of the planned amount. Of course, the crisis has played its role, as well.
"The investors' interest in purchasing state property dropped considerably beginning in the second half of last year," the Prime Minister said.
It would be wrong, however, to attribute all difficulties to external factors.
"The conclusion is simple - either our planning is bad or we do not work well," Mr Putin said.
Not long ago the Government was making privatisation plans for three years ahead, similar to budget planning. Today, this is no longer the case, just as with the budget, at least for the time being. Instead, the Government decided to exercise strict saving, suspending the sale of profitable assets for a year or two until the prices go up again.
"Even in view of the crisis, we should not sell state property at undervalued and inadequate prices," the Prime Minister instructed his subordinates.
In other words, only very unattractive assets will be put on sale now. The most lucrative enterprises will not be included in the list of assets available for privatization this year. The Ministry of Economic Development will save them until the end of the crisis.