(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, AUG 16 - The German government said Monday it will sell part of the 20 percent stake it took last year in Lufthansa to prop up the airline group during the coronavirus pandemic. The Economic Stabilisation Fund (WSF) that holds the shares in Germany's flagship carrier "is selling a limited part of its stake", it said in a statement. Berlin will reduce its ownership by a maximum of five percent "over several weeks", the WSF said. The Lufthansa group, which also includes Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines, was saved from bankruptcy last June by a German government bailout. The government took a 20-percent stake in the group as part of a nine-billion-euro ($10 billion) state aid package. But the help was seen as a temporary fix and Berlin will now begin to sell its shares due to the recent "positive of the company" and "the initial success of the forward-looking measures", the WSF said. (ANSA-AFP).