ALROSA MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Finance Ministry is confident that proceeds from the sale of a state stake in Rosneft (>> NK Rosneft' PAO) will reach the federal budget this year, but doubts that further privatisation of the firm is needed, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Friday.
The government wants to sell 19.5 percent in Rosneft, the country's largest oil producer, as it will allow it to keep a controlling stake in the company, Siluanov said. Should Russia sell another 10 percent in the firm, the state will not retain its controlling position.
"I haven’t heard such a discussion in the government," Siluanov said, answering a question whether the government is considering to sell more of its holdings in Rosneft.
Speaking to journalists, he said that his ministry expects proceeds from all the proposed privatisation to shrink next year to 138 billion roubles (£1.81 billion) from around 1 trillion roubles this year.
In 2018, only 14 billion roubles in proceeds will come from selling government stakes in a number of companies. In contrast to earlier plans, Siluanov said the government has no imminent plans to sell its stake in the diamond producer Alrosa (>> AK Alrosa PAO) next year.
Commenting on Russia's borrowing plans, Siluanov said that Moscow will announce its plans to exchange existing Eurobonds for new ones by the end of the year. The swap will help to postpone deadlines for debt payment liabilities and is designed to improve Russia's debt structure.
Siluanov also said that his ministry will be able to borrow more on the domestic rouble market this year and will have no need to issues treasury bonds denominated in Chinese yuan.
Earlier this month, the ministry said that it may borrow Chinese yuan for the first time ever by the end of 2016.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh and Lidia Kelly; editing by Polina Devitt)
By Andrey Ostroukh
