Vietnam's latest SOE reform push will see some success

Significance

Vietnamese public debt levels and membership conditions attached to the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade scheme are necessitating this intensification.

Impacts

• Larger SOEs will launch initial public offerings to attract strategic investors.
• Reining back of SOEs into their 'core' business areas will accelerate.
• Vietnam's economic dependence on the foreign-invested corporate sector, particularly for export earnings, will increase.
• Foreign investment inflows will probably rise.