11 Apr 2024 16:39

Selling assets handed to state could earn 100 bln rubles or more for budget -Siluanov

MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax) - The sale of assets that became state property as a result of several court rulings in 2023-2024 could become a significant means of topping the budget up, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.

"Assets transferred to the treasury by court decisions [...] must be sold. If you look at their value, we can get 100 billion rubles, maybe more," Siluanov said in an interview with Interfax.

"The Federal Property Management Agency has its tasks. We're working on it," he said, when asked whether such sales were possible as early as this year.

As for "classic" privatization, Siluanov said the discussions of the Finance Ministry's proposals were still "labored."

"There's potentially a lot of money there, these are key companies where the state's share could be reduced to no less than a controlling stake," he said.

Siluanov spoke at the end of last year about proposals submitted to the government to reduce the state's share in a number of large companies - approximately 30 of them worth "hundreds of billions" of rubles. The list is not public - Interfax sources have said the ministry's plan was very ambitious and had promoted the usual categorical objections from other ministries. Asked why the MinFin had decided to make such proposals now, Siluanov said: "Right now the state needs money to develop the economy. We can either raise it on the market at high interest, or sell assets and invest in new technologies, and obtain "new assets, or support for critical sectors for the country."

"So it would be strange if the Finance Ministry had not made such proposals. It's our job. It's all a matter of resolve. You can sell some assets while maintaining a controlling stake. You can exit completely if these are not systemically important enterprises. These issues need to be resolved. And we can get 100 billion rubles [for assets newly received by the treasury] this year," he said.