Well that took longer than it should have. The UK government has finally started selling down its 78 per cent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland. It should have started the process years ago. The shares closed at 338p on Monday. In August 2013 they were trading at around 340p, and in the intervening period there have been no dividends. About £31bn of UK taxpayers’ money has been tied up for two years in the bank, with no return. The public would have done better had its money been in a savings account, despite the woefully-low interest rates on offer. The government, it seems, is not a good allocator of investment capital.
这件事本不该花这么长时间。英国政府终于开始出售其所持的苏格兰皇家银行(RBS) 78%的股份。它本该在数年前就开始这么做。周一，该行股票收于每股338便士。2013年8月，股价约为每股340便士，而且在政府干预期间未派发任何股息。约310亿英镑的英国纳税人资金被锁定在该行股份上长达两年，没有获得任何回报。如果当时把这些钱放在储蓄账户里，公众的收益原本还会高一些，尽管银行提供的利率低得可怜。看起来，英国政府并不擅长配置投资资本。