Russia's Economic Development Ministry is advocating for expansion of private property in Russian economy

MOSCOW. May 8 (Interfax) - Russia's Ministry of Economic Development considers it expedient to increase the share of private ownership in relation to state assets, which are not being managed efficiently, acting Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov said on Wednesday.

"The State still owns a lot of facilities that could be given to private business, and we need to return to this issue. I'm not even taking strategic companies now, although there is probably something to talk about there, some things to look at," he said, speaking at the Efficient and Competitive Economy plenary session, part of the "Russia" exhibition.

As an example, the acting minister cited tourism facilities and sanatoriums in the North Caucasus, "which have not been put in order," and whose current owners come to the state for subsidies.

"When resolving these issues, we need to move forward and really expand property rights, private property rights within the economy," he said.

Previously, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) Alexander Shokhin made a proposal to consider the sale of certain state assets to business so they could be used more efficiently as well as create additional sources of income for the budget. Privatization allowed for the development of the stock market, he said, citing the "public" IPO of VTB as an example. "Still, some assets in the financial and industrial spheres may not be put up for sale in their entirety, but by means of a public offering, such as the notorious people's privatization of VTB. However, there was a crisis situation, a global crisis at the time. Nevertheless, no one is stopping growing companies from being listed on the stock exchange. The point here is not only that the current situation will allow budgetary problems to be solved this way without raising taxes, but also, purely institutionally, it will help develop the financial market and attract investors who are already in the country, etcetera and so forth," Shokhin said in July.