MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti) – The market value of Russia’s government owned assets is more than 50 percent higher than the country’s 2012 GDP, but the authorities say the property’s management is not always effective.
The Russian government held a meeting Thursday to try to work out a concept in the sphere of managing federal property.
Russia’s Federal Agency for State Property Management is now in charge of over 2,300 joint stock companies with state participation, some 1,800 federal state unitary enterprises, more than 20,000 establishments, nearly 250,000 government facilities and 238,000 land plots with the overall area of 553 million hectares.
“In line with our preliminary data, the aggregate nominal value of the above-mentioned facilities totals some 12 trillion rubles [$396.9 billion],” Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov said at the meeting.
“The market value, according to preliminary assessments, exceeds 100 trillion rubles [$3.3 trillion],” he said.
According to official statistics, Russia’s GDP in 2012 totaled 62 trillion rubles ($2.1 trillion).
The authorities have been saying it is necessary to reduce state presence in the economy for the past few years. When the current prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, was Russia’s president, he gave instructions to gradually remove state officials from joint stock companies’ boards of directors within three years starting from 2012.
Speaking at the government meeting Thursday, Medvedev urged a more transparent selection of candidates for state companies’ boards of directors. The premier said key corporate decisions should be made by professionals who are not state officials.
Belousov said most enterprises with state participation have not yet defined the key indices of their efficiency.
Updated with Medvedev, Belousov comments.
