The British government on Wednesday announced plans to relaunch its sale of Royal Bank Scotland, which the taxpayer rescued at the height of the financial crisis.

The announcement, contained in Britain's annual budget, said "the government intends to recommence the privatisation of RBS" by March 2019 by selling about two-thirds of its 71-percent stake for roughly £15 billion ($19.9 billion, 16.9 billion euros). It is hoped that some £3.0 billion of shares would be sold each year up until 2023.

The government decided in 2015 to start selling a chunk of its then stake of about 80 percent but the plan was carried out only partially owing to the lender's low share price.