Do countries invest in the country's own stock market?

Question

For example can the government of the UK invest in some company with shares in the FTSE 100? Or can Russia take the opportunity now that the shares of oil companies are low to buy them?

Answer 1

Generally, countries does not invest in the country's own stock market. At present, the role of government has changed to facilitator rather than conducting the business themselves as in the command economy. With the wave of globalization, the government is more focused on ensuring the good governance rather than earning profits by investing on the stock market. The concept of privatization and liberalization has pushed the government to sell their stocks to the public and eventually get out of the business. So, the government does not invest in the stock market.