The Government earned VND198 trillion (US$8.49 billion) from divestment and privatisation of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the past three years.

The figure was triple that collected in the 2011-15 period. Of which, Viet Nam collected VND30 trillion in 2016 and VND140 trillion in 2017, with the latter including the record VND110 trillion Sabeco divestment.

The country got VND28.1 trillion from divestment and privatisation of SOEs in the first half of this year. In the first eight months of this year, 10 out of 85 SOEs saw their privatisation plans approved, with total value of VND29.5 trillion.

Some big companies undergoing privatisation included PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PVPower), PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PVOil) and Power Generation Corporation (Genco 3).

The Government would hold 54.1 per cent of shares at the companies after their divestment and privatisation. The remaining shares would be sold through initial public offerings (IPOs) and strategic partners.

The total money paid to the State budget from divestment and privatisation reached VND115 trillion, meeting 46 per cent of the set target in the 2016-20 period.

The State-owned capital divestment at privatised firms has been slower than the set targets.

The Government successfully divested capital from 17 out of 135 SOEs in the 2017 plan. The remaining companies delayed their plans to this year. This has increased the volume of work to be done in 2018 to up to 181 businesses. — VNS