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Big assets' privatization to cover budget gap — Russian economy minister

Privatization of major assets will boost the efficiency of public companies, the minister says, now the process is focused primarily on small assets

STUTTGART /Germany/, May 31. /TASS/. Privatization of major assets will help solve the problem of budget gap in 2016 and boost the efficiency of public companies, Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev said on Tuesday.

"We hope to receive serious results already this year," he said at meeting with German businessmen in Stuttgart. In his words, these results will make it possible to cover the budget shortage and increase the efficiency of companies, to make them more transparent.

He said that privatization in Russia until now focused primarily on small assets. "This year, we plan to get back to the privatization of big assets of our biggest and best companies active both in the raw material sector, such as Rosneft, Bashneft and Alrosa, in the banking sector, such as VTB, and the transport sector - Sovcomflot, and other big assets," he said, adding that the government share in the economy is excessive.