Government 'to do its best' to privatize Rosneft in 2016: Russian Economy Minister

SHCHETINKA, Russia (Reuters) - Russia's government should do its best to privatize a stake in the nation's largest oil producer Rosneft <ROSN.MM> this year, Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Monday.

"Taking into account the attractiveness of this asset and keeping in mind that this would allow us to resolve to a large extent the problem of the budget deficit, I believe a sale of part of Rosneft will be a priority project now," Ulyukayev told journalists on a visit to the Kursk Region in central Russia.

"We should do our best to do it in 2016."

He also said that it was technically possible to privatize mid-sized oil company Bashneft <BANE.MM> at the end of 2016 or in 2017, if there was "a political decision".

(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; writing by Dmitry Solovyov; editing by Polina Devitt)