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.
這件事本不該花這麼長時間。英國政府終於開始出售其所持的蘇格蘭皇家銀行(RBS) 78%的股份。它本該在數年前就開始這麼做。週一，該行股票收於每股338便士。2013年8月，股價約爲每股340便士，而且在政府幹預期間未派發任何股息。約310億英鎊的英國納稅人資金被鎖定在該行股份上長達兩年，沒有獲得任何回報。如果當時把這些錢放在儲蓄賬戶裏，公衆的收益原本還會高一些，儘管銀行提供的利率低得可憐。看起來，英國政府並不擅長配置投資資本。