The Czech Republic’s deputy finance minister, Eduard Janota, has said that the proposed privatisation of the state-owned brewer, Budejovicky Budvar (BB), will not go ahead for another two years.
The Interfax news agency reported that Janota told a BBC interview that the country is not budgeting for revenues from the privatization of BB or the power utility, CEZ, for the 2004-2006 period.
Reports that the government was pondering the privatisation of BB emerged about two weeks ago and aroused significant interest and speculation. However, the management at the company is known to be opposed to privatisation, while regional government authorities were reported to be considering bidding for a majority stake in the brewer if the government sell-off went ahead.
Budejovicky Budvar registered a profit of CZK280m in 2002 on sales of CZK2.4 billion.
