Kudrin: Govt not planning to capitalize Rusal

MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - The government is not planning to capitalize aluminum giant UC Rusal, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Thursday following a cabinet meeting. "We are not planning to help companies of a civilian nature from the federal budget," Kudrin said. "We are not planning to capitalize Rusal or other companies, which will resolve their problems on market conditions taking into account those who want to invest in them and the loans that they received," the minister said. However, the state, as a shareholder, will take care of state companies, Kudrin said, adding that these are companies where the state is the key shareholder. "As a shareholder we must think about our companies. Here we are proposing our participation in a number of projects and investments," Kudrin said. "Yes, there are cases where, in the interests of social support and preservation of jobs, we will show additional consideration. Within the context of the list of backbone companies we are already considering proposals to subsidize interest rates on loans," Kudrin said. Special consideration, for example, will be shown to automakers GAZ (RTS: GAZA) and Avtovaz (RTS: AVAZ) due to their importance to local communities and the large number of people employed at the plants themselves and at enterprises that are part of these industrial groups, including in other regions of Russia, he said. But no special, serious measures are being planned to acquire equity interest. Kudrin gave some examples of companies where the government is planning capital injections. One such case is nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, for which the government will allocate 50 billion rubles to increase capital. Capital will also be increased at Russian-Indian enterprises in a number of sectors with funds in Russian accounts from the repayment of Indian debt to Russia in rupees under an intergovernmental agreement. But these measures are not anti-crisis in nature, Kudrin said. "We are not providing for special projects, participation in capital, with the exception of the banking sector," Kudrin said.