Czech banks’ painful privatization

When the Czech Republic privatized its communist-era industry in the early 1990s it made a serious mistake. It left the banks in state hands. Selling the banks is more difficult now. Their stock has fallen; their loan books are weak; and political opposition to the sell-off is strong. Nigel Dudley reports

A SUPPLEMENT TO EUROMONEY/APRIL 1998: EASTERN EUROPE

The Czech government has belatedly begun privatizing three of its top banks by appointing international consultants to advise on the sale. The government aims to transfer the banks to the private sector by the end of the year, allowing strategic foreign investors to hold large stakes. But the plan could yet be knocked off course by political opposition and disputes over responsibility for the banks’ bad debts.

The one certainty is that the government will receive billions of dollars less than it would if the banks had been sold in the mid 1990s when the government’s reputation and the economy were in far better shape.

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