Privatization of Sberbank will not be considered in the mid-term, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Central Bank Chairperson Elvira Nabiullina.
"Next week we will discuss issues related to privatization, privatization plans, including for this year," the President said. He noted that there is an opinion that "a number of financial institutions should be privatized" as well.
"The Central Bank is the key shareholder of Sberbank," Putin noted and asked Nabiullina to give her opinion regarding the necessity to privatize Sberbank.
"We think the issue of privatization of a stake in Sberbank is premature now," she said, adding that the confidence of Sberbank’s depositors is based on the fact that "the state holds the controlling stake in it."
President Putin agreed with this view, stressing that the issue will not be raised in the near future.
"I fully agree with you and we won’t return to the issue in the near future," TASS cited Putin as saying.
