Quy Nhon Port, located in Binh Dinh province, is owned by the State and subject to equitisation (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The restructuring and equitisationof State-owned enterprises (SOEs) should focus on quality instead of quantity,and the State’s investments need to be restructured to become more effective,an expert has said.
The remark was made by Director of the CentralInstitute for Economic Management (CIEM) Nguyen Dinh Cung at a conference onthe reform and improvement of SOEs on November 21.
At this event, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong DinhHue emphasised the viewpoint that SOEs should focus only on key fields likedefence and security as well as areas that the private sector does not investin, and that the State only divests its capital from firms with effectiveoperation.
He noted that the equitised and divested valuebetween 2016 and 2018 rose 2.5-fold from the 2011-2015 period, adding thatoperations of SOEs have continued to improve.
Their total assets have increased by 3 percent,pre-tax profit up 4 percent, and contributions to the State budget up 5 percentfrom 2016. In the first eight months of 2018, SOEs fulfilled over 70 percent ofthis year’s revenue and profit targets, Hue said.
CIEM Director Cung said SOEs are still anirreplaceable economic force for the time ahead.
“At present, we solely focus on equitisation anddivestment because we hope that businesses will change their administration andoperate in line with the market,” he noted.
Pointing out problems in the equitisation anddivestment process, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said that according tothe Prime Minister-approved plan, at least 85 SOEs must have their equitisationscompleted in 2018. However, only 12 firms had been equitised as of November 18,so the target is unlikely to be reached this year.
Meanwhile, State capital must be divested from181 enterprises in 2018, but the work has only been completed in 31 firms sofar.
He said that in order to step up the reform andimprovement of SOEs, ministries, sectors, localities, as well as SOEsthemselves must be synchronous in adapting careful measures, includingpromoting consensus in the work and promptly fine-tuning the relevant legalsystem.
Dung also asked the parties concerned to submitrestructuring plans for the SOEs under their remit to authorised agencies forapproval before the end of this year. Additionally, heads of ministries,sectors, and localities must be responsible for the outcomes of SOEs’restructuring, reform, and improvement. –VNA
VNA
