The Ministry of Investment and Planning (MPI) is in a hurry to draw up a decree to cover the conversion of state-owned enterprises into one-member limited liability companies to speed up the process of restructuring state-owned enterprises which is said to be “too slow”.

According to the MPI, the new draft decree will abolish many of the restrictions in the current decree and include more business friendly regulations.

The equitising of state-owned enterprises was started in 1992, however, the process has slowed down since 2007, with only 40 enterprises equitised in 2009 compared to 150 in 2007 and 98 in 2008. Meanwhile, almost 1,000 enterprises have been targeted for equitisation during 2007-2010.

According to financial analysts, inadequate legislation is the main reason behind the delays. In addition, new issues are emerging such as the lack of accuracy when calculating an enterprises land and assets and choosing the right strategic investors.

Nguyen Dinh Tai, an expert from the Central Institute of Economic Management, reckons that adjusting the regulations and policies relating to equitisation to make them more suitable to the current circumstances is essential.

Le Thi Hoa, a member of Vietcombank’s Management Board, stressed that, while she shared Tai’s views, supervising businesses after equitisation was imperative. According to her, the government needs to continue drafting the regulations on the supervision and the transparency of information after equitisation to ensure that all enterprises operate in a professional and effective manner./.