Vietnam Govt OKs ADB-funded Project on SOEs Reform

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has approved the technical assistance project to implement the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Reform and Corporate Governance Facilitation Program. The project will require a total of $1.45 million, of which $1.2 million will be granted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the government said on its website.  The Ministry of Finance is responsible for finalizing the project and coordinating with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and relevant agencies to implement the project. The State Bank of Vietnam is in charge of working with ADB to receive the technical assistance project. The project is designed to make the equitized and restructured SOEs, including large general corporations and their subsidiaries, be more profitable and transparent. The expected outcome will be the transformation of several general corporations and their subsidiaries into focused, efficient businesses with stronger balance sheets and improved corporate governance. The government’s program for restructuring SOEs will be more difficult, costly and time-consuming than expected, experts said. Vietnam will require a total capital of VND55 trillion-VND65 trillion for debt restructuring, handling of losses, and workforce rearrangement at SOEs. However, many foreign experts called on Vietnam to restructure SOEs to raise transparency and competitiveness, contributing to boost the country’s economic development. (chinhphu.vn Feb 15)