Vietnam's Finance Ministry plans to double the market capitalization of Vietnam's stock markets by 2010, a senior ministry official said Wednesday.
Pham Phan Dung, director of the ministry's department of banks and credit organizations, said the government was determined to speed up economic reforms to bring more state companies to the market in the next four years.
"By 2010, all of the major state companies, including large commercial banks, should list their shares on the stock markets, which will account for 50% of the GDP," Dung told Dow Jones Newswires.
Currently, the country's stock market in Ho Chi Minh City has 109 issues with a market capitalization of $15 billion, and the official over-the-counter market in Hanoi has 86 issues with market capitalization of US$5.9 billion.
Vietnam would also set up and operate a market for bonds and debt instruments by then, Dung noted. Vietnam has a small bond market now.
Dung said the government would only retain absolute control of companies involved in vital operations, such as national power distribution, large ports, mass transportation and television.
By the end of May, the Finance Ministry will decide which companies under its management fall under this vital-operations category, and from June the government will speed up the sales of the state's stakes in other companies, including Bao Viet Insurance Corp., Hanoi Beer Co. and Saigon Beer Co.
As part of Vietnam's commitments for entry into the World Trade Organization in early 2007, the country must gradually open its companies to foreign investors, he said.
Vietnamese law currently allows foreigners to own up to 49% of companies and up to 30% of banks, but these limits will be lifted based on the WTO commitments, he added, without giving a specific date.
So far the state has sold its stakes in more than 3,000 state-owned companies, but only a small number of them have listed shares on the stock markets, according to MOF's figures.
Source: Thanh Nien
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