Government mulls lifting foreign cap for private business ownership
The Government will consider increasing the foreign ownership cap for non-State-owned enterprises, said Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Vu Duc Dam.
At a press conference on September 29, the minister said the administration of foreign owned corporations needed to be clear, transparent and in line with international standards.
He said the Government would soon devise a foreign-ownership ceiling for private businesses across each sector. In the banking system, big banks including Vietinbank, Vietcombank and BIDV have all equitised.
The Government currently enforces a maximum foreign-ownership quota of 30%, but is set to lift the quota in favour of private sector development.
The Government would also act to protect the legal rights of ownership to guarantee certainty and stability for investors, said Dam.
The move follows a ten year campaign to re-arrange and equitise state-owned enterprises, cutting back on non-core businesses from 12,000 to 1,300.
"We have followed a scheduled road map and we will continue to carry out equitisation of these enterprises," said Dam.
In an interview with Bloomberg in New York last week, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the Government had planned to let foreign companies own up to 49% of local banks in the near future.
There are also plans to sell shares in companies such as Vietnam Airlines Corp, Vietnam Posts&Telecommunications Group, and Vietnam Oil&Gas Group.