The process of privatization or transfer of state property to private hands has been actively carried out in Russia since the early 1990s. It can be divided into two major stages.
The essence and goals of privatization in Russia
Privatization is a process of transferring state ownership into private ownership. It began in Russia in 1991. The following goals of this process were enshrined in legislative acts on the legal aspects of privatization in Russia:
- ensuring the equality of various forms of ownership;
- demonopolization of production facilities;
- balancing the incomes of social groups of the population;
- creation of an effective class of owners, redistribution of income and property;
- formation and development of the stock market in Russia.
The key goals of privatization in Russia were not achieved - there was no serious restructuring of the economy and the institution of effective property did not arise, and most of the resources were concentrated among a narrow circle of people.
Among the methods of privatization were determined by the competitive sale of enterprises and assets, the sale of enterprises through an auction, the sale of blocks of shares (shares of companies), the redemption of the property of enterprises.
Stages of privatization in Russia
Privatization in Russia was carried out in two stages. These include voucher privatization (1992-1994) and monetary privatization (1995-1997). We can say that the privatization process continues today. True, it is not going on at such an active pace as in the 1990s.
The peculiarities of voucher privatization were the efficiency of the process, as well as the introduction of free privatization checks (vouchers). In total, in 1994, 2/3 of all trade enterprises and working in the field of personal services were privatized.
The main disadvantage of the voucher method of privatization was its low profitability for the budget, which was replenished in 1992 by 0.04 billion rubles. Most of this money has depreciated as a result of inflation.
Vouchers were distributed in 1992 to the population for a symbolic payment. Their nominal value was 10 thousand rubles. The vouchers were issued for a total amount of 1,400 billion rubles, which was the estimated value of all property in the Russian Federation.
According to the head of the State Property Committee A. B. Chubais' voucher matched the cost of two Volga cars. The market value of the shares that could be purchased with the vouchers depended on the company and the region. Thus, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, a voucher could be exchanged for 2,000 shares of Gazprom, in the Moscow region - for 700 shares.
The second stage of privatization, which was named monetary, began in 1995 and continues to this day. He focused on the transition from the gratuitous transfer of state property to its sale at market prices. According to the declared goals of privatization, it was supposed to ensure an increase in the efficiency of enterprises.
In practice, the second stage of privatization also failed because about 7.3 trillion rubles were collected in the budget. Most of these funds were obtained through loans-for-shares auctions. The result has also been a sharp decline in GDP, increased social inequality and a stratification of social strata.
