The Ministry of Finance has raised a number of measures to accelerate the equitisation of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) since the process made no improvements recently.

Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) is among SOEs
which must be privatised this year (Photo: baodautu.vn) 

According to the ministry’s Corporate Finance Department, the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions in production, business and other social activities, which also affected the equitisation and divestment of SOEs.

The equitisation and divestment had stagnated, the department said, pointing out that in the first four months of this year, no SOEs were privatised.

Statistics showed that from 2016 to April 2020, 174 SOEs had equitisation plans approved. They had total assets worth more than VND443 trillion (US$19.1 billion), in which the State capital accounted for 46%.

Among the above 174 SOEs, only 36 enterprises completed equitisation following the Prime Minister’s Decision No 26/2019/QĐ-TTg dated August 15, 2019. This meant that 92 SOEs must be privatised in the remaining months of this year.

Hanoi had 13 enterprises which must be equitised this year, HCM City 38, the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises six, the Ministry of Industry and Trade four and the Ministry of Construction two.

Deputy Director of the Corporate Finance Department Pham Van Duc said that the equitisation was expected to be sped up in the remaining months of this year.

Among 92 enterprises which must be equitised this year, there were big companies which were expected to be attractive to investors such as Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, Vietnam National Coal – Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited, Vietnam National Chemical Group and Mobifone Telecommunications Group.

According to the finance ministry, besides the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the equitisation and divestment also faced bottlenecks in evaluating corporate value, especially in land value.

The ministry said that the urgent task was minimising the impacts of COVID-19 and bringing the economy back on its feet.

At the same time, focus would be placed on strengthening corporate finance management and improving the operation efficiency of SOEs.

The ministry also raised a number of solutions to speed up the equitisation in the remaining months of this year.

Accordingly, SOEs must complete the evaluation of their corporate value and publicise information by the end of this year. Accountability of the SOEs' leaders must be enhanced if the equitisation and divestment missed the plans.

Hanoi city, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Construction must speed up the divestment as their workload remains huge.