Privatization's Second Phase Approved

The government has approved the new second phase of privatization and the program is awaiting the signature of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Maxim Boiko, the director of the Russian Privatization Center said Monday.Boiko said the government had approved the program at a meeting Saturday and that after it was signed by Chernomyrdin, President Boris Yeltsin would issue it as a decree. He declined to say when the decree would be issued.The new program is expected to replace voucher privatization, which ends June 30. In the new privatization program, the state will sell off shares in companies for cash to the highest bidder. The government is also expected over a three-year period to sell off the stakes it retained in privatized enterprises.Boiko said there was little change in the program from an earlier draft plan that the government had adopted in principle, although more autonomy has been given to the regions. He said the government struck a balance between "the need for uniform rules and the need to give more autonomy."