THE UK Government hopes to raise at least £25 billion in the next five years by selling at least three-quarters of its stake in Royal bank of Scotland.
It wants to offload £2bn in the current fiscal year with between £5.8bn and £6bn in each of the following years to the end of the decade.
While detail on the exact form of the share sale was scant the government said: "All options for near-term disposals will be considered."
RBS declined to comment on the plans.
UK Financial Investments (UKFI) chairman James Leigh-Pemberton said in a letter to George Osborne that it would also be possible to raise at least £2 billion from the sale of RBS shares in the current fiscal year.
Mr Leigh-Pemberton said: "I believe that realising a total of at least £25 billion from the sale of RBS shares -- representing over three-quarters of the government's stake in RBS at the current market price -- is feasible in the period to May 2020 while delivering value for money for the taxpayer, provided market conditions are supportive."
He was asked to look into the whether it was feasible to dispose of the stake at that rate by Mr Osborne, he revealed in the letter which was published on the Treasury's website.
RBS was rescued by the government during the financial crisis at a cost of £45.8bn, leaving taxpayers with a 78 per cent stake.
Mr Osborne said in June that he wanted to start selling the shares in the coming months.
Taxpayers are currently sitting on a paper loss of around £14b, which suggests any initial sale is likely to made at a discount to the price paid.
However RBS's share price may benefit in the coming months from the conclusion of the majority of cases relating to past misconduct and its restructuring to focus on lending to British households and businesses.
The shares could also benefit from having more liquidity once the government starts to sell down its stake.
"We expect that the RBS investment case will continue to evolve, which will create further opportunities to make disposals which deliver value for money for taxpayers in the coming years," Mr Leigh-Pemberton added.
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