State-owned enterprises will be allowed to invest outside their industries, delegates worry about risks from 'lucrative deals'

bất động sản - Ảnh 1. — Delegate Pham Van Hoa - Photo: Quochoi.vn

One of the concerns raised is the investment activities of enterprises. Delegate Pham Van Hoa ( Dong Thap ) said that it is necessary to pay attention to allowing state-owned enterprises to invest in non-core areas such as real estate, finance, etc.

Invested outside the industry but classified in the field

"Is the banking sector allowed to invest and trade in real estate or not, is it allowed to invest in securities or not? I mean, are large corporations such as Vietnam Electricity Group and Vietnam Oil and Gas Group allowed to invest in real estate or the real estate business sector?" - delegate Hoa raised the question.

According to the delegate, in the past, some large companies invested in non-core sectors and suffered losses and there were cases of them getting into trouble with the law. Therefore, he suggested considering if the draft law allows cases of real estate investment and business outside the core sector and clarifying which businesses will be allowed to invest.

"It is necessary to consider depending on the time, place, and conditions, which enterprises are allowed to do it and which enterprises are not allowed to do it. It is not a general idea that all state-owned enterprises are allowed to invest in real estate. I think it is not appropriate and not good. We should allow large state-owned investment enterprises to invest," said Mr. Hoa.

This delegate also reiterated previous opinions that state-owned enterprises are not allowed to do real estate business.

However, he said that it is not necessary to require any business not to invest, but to rely on ensuring long-term efficiency and performance.

"Real estate business is currently a "lucrative" business, with the potential for very high profits to offset other costs, very necessary but not for everyone" - Mr. Hoa said.

Create initiative for business

Previously, in the report explaining the acceptance, Mr. Phan Van Mai - Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee - also said that accepting the opinions, the draft proposed the direction of "not regulating investment restrictions" in the draft law. Asking for opinions before deciding to lease or exploit real estate does not create initiative for businesses.

The National Assembly Standing Committee accepted this view and directed the addition of Article 22 of the draft law, stipulating that enterprises have the right to lease, hire-purchase, mortgage, and pledge their assets. This means that state-owned enterprises are allowed to make investments outside their core business.

bất động sản - Ảnh 2. — Minister Nguyen Van Thang - Photo: Quochoi.vn

Chairman of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises Nguyen Van Than also said "priority must be given to state-owned enterprises". Because state-owned enterprises, in addition to production and business, create jobs, they also have to shoulder social security issues.

Therefore, there are fields that the private sector will not do when it is not profitable, so state-owned enterprises must do it, such as coal, oil and gas, national security and defense...

"We need to abandon the notion that what private enterprises can do, the State cannot do," he added that the state economy is dominant, so enterprises in this sector play an important role in the economy.

However, Mr. Than noted that it is necessary to assign specific tasks and business and investment fields to state-owned enterprises. This is to avoid the situation where enterprises see profitable investment fields, such as real estate, and "jump" into them, which is risky. "Things that state-owned enterprises want to participate in outside their industry must be assigned by the Government and have the opinion of the owner," he stated.

According to Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang, the viewpoint of this law amendment is that the State does not directly intervene in the production and business activities of enterprises. Accordingly, the current regulation is to manage enterprises with state capital contributions.

This revised bill only "manages" the state capital participation in enterprises. "When the state has contributed capital and formed assets of enterprises, their activities must be respected," Mr. Thang said, adding that the bill also adds many provisions to increase decentralization and delegation of authority to the representative owner of state capital in enterprises.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/doanh-nghiep-nha-nuoc-se-duoc-dau-tu-ngoai-nganh-dai-bieu-lo-rui-ro-tu-mon-beo-bo-20250513131352722.htm