The government of Vietnam is planning to end restrictions on the attraction of foreign investment by some local companies in a bid to open up to the country to overseas investments.
In an official decree posted on the website of the Vietnamese government on Sunday, Hanoi said it is mulling plans to cancel rules that currently forbid foreigners from owning more than 49 percent of a local company in Vietnam, AFP reported.
"For (some) public companies... the percentage of foreign ownership is unrestricted, unless the company's charter stipulates otherwise," the decree said.
Official figures released by Vietnamese authorities last week showed that the country registered an economic growth rate of 6.28 percent in the first half of 2015, the fastest rate it has experienced since 2008.
The economic system, however, is still dominated by very big and often inflexible state-owned companies.
Hanoi is currently taking steps to ease business regulations and continue with its privatization drive, in order to support the country’s economic growth.
However, the decree does not specify when the restrictions will be lifted in order to pave the way for foreign investors to take full control of companies covered by the decree. The details as well as the number and type of companies that will be exempt from the restrictions have not been specified too.
Analysts have shown cautious reactions to the announcement, saying that foreign companies and investors would be more than eager to have an opportunity to invest more in the booming Southeast Asian nation.
"It is good decision made at the right time," Le Dang Doanh, a prominent economist and one of the architects of the country's economic reforms, told AFP, adding, "Foreign investors could bring more money and capital to the Vietnamese stock market, which could become more active in the future. The decree will also encourage Vietnamese companies to pay attention in a more competitive market."
According to the Bloomberg news agency, quoting a report by Hanoi-based VNDirect Securities JSC , it is generally believed that there are around 30 Vietnamese companies where foreign ownership currently stands at about 49 percent.
"As soon as the limits are raised, you will see a rush to buy in the blue chips," Patrick Mitchell, the head of institutional sales at VinaSecurities JSC, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.
Bloomberg has also released new data showing that foreign investments in Vietnamese companies’ stocks reached USD 135.6 million by June 25, 2015.
Vietnam’s stocks have been valued at USD 58.6 billion, which looks diminutive as compared with USD 558.1 billion in Singapore, the region's largest market.
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