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Sberbank Privatization Late

TOMSK — The government might not be ready to privatize Sberbank in 2011, Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said Monday, a month after the government sold a 10 percent stake in rival lender VTB.

"We need to look at the market's development and at our readiness. We may not be ready," Nabiullina told journalists in the Siberian town of Tomsk.

The sale of a 7.6 percent stake in Sberbank, worth about $6 billion, was expected in the second half of 2011. The government aims to raise 1 trillion rubles ($35 billion) in three years via asset sales to help its crisis-hit budget.

(Reuters)

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