The Ministry of Finance announced that the state-owned Vietnam National Petroleum Corp (Petrolimex) has been profitable for three consecutive years.
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| Petrolimex losing or winning? |
According to the results of the audit by international firm Delloitte and released by the Ministry of Finance on November 25, Petrolimex made profits of VND1.018 trillion (USD48.45 million) in 2008. Of this, VND642 billion (USD30.55 million) came from the actual petroleum trade, leaving VND376 billion (USD17.9 million) that came from various other business activities.
In 2009 they made a profit of VND3.217 trillion (USD153.11 million). Of this, VND2.66 trillion (USD126.6 million) came from trading petrol.
In 2010, even though they lost VND172 billion (USD8.18 million) in the petrol trade, they made a net profit derived from their other businesses, which amounted to VND486 billion (USD23.13 million).
In the first six months of this year, Petrolimex lost VND1.84 trillion (USD87.57 million). The ministry attributed this loss to overspending on agent commissions and the unfavourable exchange rate.
The firm borrowed a total of USD3.979 billion to pay for petroleum imports from the beginning of the year to September 15.
Other losses claimed by the company, amounting to VND1.425 trillion (USD67.82 million) were blamed on currency exchange rates. The figure accounts for 77.5% of their claimed losses.
Petrolimex also spent VND516.168 billion (USD25.04 million) on agent commissions, which were added to business costs in their books.
The audit, however, shows that, once the non-core business activities are taken into account, the firm remained largely profitable.
