In an official dispatch dated January 24, PM Pham Minh Chinh set out specific requirements for state-owned enterprises, calling on them to act as economic spearheads, strengthen governance, improve business performance and accelerate assigned key infrastructure projects, while proposing new investment schemes.
For 2026, the National Assembly has approved an economic growth target of at least 10 per cent, with GDP per capita expected to reach between USD 5,400 and USD 5,500. Inflation is to be kept at around 4.5 per cent. These targets are higher than estimated results for 2025, when growth is projected at more than 8 per cent and GDP per capita at about USD 5,000.
Earlier this year, the Politburo issued Resolution 79 on the development of the state economy, reaffirming the state sector’s leading role in Vietnam’s socialist-oriented market economy and its function in ensuring macroeconomic stability.
According to official data, by the end of 2024 Vietnam had 671 state-owned enterprises and 142 firms with state capital contributions. Together, they held total assets of about VND 4.19 quadrillion, equity of VND 1.985 quadrillion, and generated more than VND 3 quadrillion in revenue. Pre-tax profit reached nearly VND 243 trillion, with an average return on equity of 12 per cent.
State-owned enterprises dominate several key sectors, including energy, telecommunications and banking, contributing more than 29 per cent of national GDP.
Firms that are wholly state-owned account for only about 0.08 per cent of active enterprises, yet control roughly 7 per cent of total corporate assets and 10 per cent of total equity, while contributing 28 per cent of total tax and budget payments.
The average asset size of a state-owned enterprise is about VND 4.1 trillion, around 10 times that of foreign-invested firms and 109 times that of private domestic enterprises.
Leading state groups include Viettel, Petrovietnam, EVN, Petrolimex, Vinachem, GVR, Vinacomin, VNPT, Mobifone, Vinataba, Vietnam Airlines and VIMC.
