According to the government’s report on capital management by SOEs in the 2011-2016 period, 18 wholly-owned SOEs invested USD12.6 billion in 110 projects, mostly focused on post and telecommunications, petroleum, rubber plantations and mining.
PetroVietnam tops among SOEs in overseas investment
Among those, PetroVietnam topped the list with USD6.7 billion, followed by Viettel with USD2.1 billion, Vietnam Rubber Industry Corporation with USD1.4 billion.
By the end of 2016, USD7 billion of USD12.6 billion in registered capital had been disbursed, including USD3.4 billion from PetroVietnam, USD1.1 billion from Viettel and USD729 million from the Vietnam Rubber Industry Corporation.
However, just four of 18 enterprises were able to recover their estimated USD1.5 billion investment.
The reported indicated that up to 25.5% of the projects faced losses in 2016 and 29% of them saw accumulated losses by late 2016.
The Ministry of Finance said that many projects have encountered problems related to legal produces, while others have proved slow in investing.
NA deputy Nguyen Minh Son from the southern province of Tien Giang said the report needed to provide more detailed information about SOE investment abroad. It was important to specify the condition of specific projects and the reasons for their loss.
The government needs to have measures for the situation. The government needs to consider selling or handing over loss-making projects in some cases, Son proposed.