Athens - Greece plans a vast three-year privatisation drive in transport, utilities and postal services to raise about a €1bn a year, the finance minister said on Wednesday.
"The government's decision is to step up privatisation procedures in these sectors in order to extract value from major state assets," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told a press conference.
He said the plan was to sell government stakes of 49% in Trainose, a subsidiary of the state rail company OSE; 10% in the Athens water company Eydap, 23% in the Thessalonica water company Eyath and 39% of the Greek postal authority Elta.
Papaconstantinou said the sales were expected to earn the state "around a billion euros a year between now and 2013."
Greece has been struggling to tame massive public deficit and debt problems, and earlier this year introduced unpopular spending cuts in an effort to put its strained finances in order.
- AFP