The Russian Federation set very ambitious targets for privatization aimed at privatizing some 75-80 percent of their state owned enterprises (SOEs) by 1996. Because of the relatively few private financial assets available, the apparent limited interest, or the hesitancy of foreign investors, the sale of SOEs in 1991 proceeded very slowly. In that year only 70 enterprises were transferred into a private hands (Chubais 1992). In the nine months of 1992, only twelve thousand establishments, mainly very small ones, out of all 215 thousand SOEs, were privatized. This constitutes a mere five percent of the SOEs designated for privatization (Statisticheskij 1992).