Deputy PM on stepping up SOE divestment this year
In 2017, the government raised VND135.6 trillion (US$6 billion) from selling the State’s shares in State-owned enterprises (SOEs), said Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue in an interivew with Bloomberg Television.
As such, the government will push forward with selling its shareholdings in SOEs in 2018 to generate revenue, relieve pressure on the State budget, and fulfill economic growth targets.
The government plans to sell 6.5 times more shares than it offered last year.
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The assets the government plans to sell “will include leading companies in energy, power, and petroleum,” he added.
According to Bloomberg, the government is looking to leverage factors like the expanding middle class and its youthful population to attract investors. It expects to sell stakes in 245 SOEs in 2018, including four scheduled in the first quarter—Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical, which operates the country’s sole oil refinery, as well as PetroVietnam Oil (PVOil), PetroVietnam Power (PVPower), and Hanoi Beer Alcohol & Beverage (Habeco).
Among the assets disposed last year was a majority stake in the nation’s top brewer Saigon Beer Alcohol & Beverage (Sabeco) to Thai Beverage and its partners in December. The transaction value was $4.8 billion.
The government is working on plans to allow more foreign ownership in sectors, including banking, Hue continued.
Public debt and publicly-guaranteed debt will increase to 64.2% of gross domestic product by 2019 from an estimated 62.6% last year, the World Bank estimated. The government plans to cap the budget deficit at 3.7% of the GDP in 2018, from the 3.5% in 2017.
Economic growth this year may match 2017’s pace of 6.8%—slightly higher than the 6.7% target set by the government—despite risks of rising trade protectionism around the world, Hue said.
“There are some risks and challenges remaining in the Vietnamese economy, but the biggest challenge will be in reconciling our wish to grow even faster with our commitment to sustainability, especially at a time when there are unpredictable movements in the world economy,” Hue said.
The benchmark VN Index has so far risen 9.3% after increasing 48% in 2017.
The economy, which posted a total trade value that was 1.93 times bigger than its GDP last year, is susceptible to global turbulences that can “have a direct impact on Vietnam’s trade, investment, and exchange rates,” he added.
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