Equitization plans for nearly 100 State-owned enterprises (SOEs) must be approved before January 15 this year, the Government has required.

This is one of a series of measures to step up SOEs equitization process, stated in a Directive recently signed by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The Government planned to rearrange/equitize 240 SOEs between 2016 and 2020. Of the total figure, 147 SOEs have been equitized over the past years and other 93 SOEs are expected to be equitized from now to 2020.

The Government also required review and adjustment of the list of SOEs subjected to equitization for 2018-2016 to make sure the equitization process feasible.

Meanwhile, all equitized SOEs shall have to seriously register transactions and list in the stock market.

Viet Nam currently has over 500 SOEs – including seven groups, 57 corporations, and 441 other enterprises managed by ministries and localities, according to the Ministry of Finance. It is expected that by 2020, the total will be reduced to about 150 SOEs.

There were 571 SOEs equitized in the 2011-2016 period.

The overall goal of SOEs divestment and equitiztion is to seek more capital for development investment and raise competitiveness of the SOEs.

VGP