HANOI, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party
has promised economic reforms and a restructuring of state firms
and the banking system after a top-level meeting that criticised
senior members, thought to include Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung, but left them in post.
The country’s banks are swimming in bad debt, much of it
owed by the huge state enterprises at the heart of the economy.
Moody’s downgraded Vietnam last month and said bank reforms
should be implemented quickly.
The central committee, the powerful body of more than 170
senior members of the Communist Party of Vietnam, “came to the
decision not to discipline the collective of the Political
Bureau and a comrade member of the Political Bureau”, the party
said in a statement on its website late on Monday.
Some analysts had forecast that Dung, prime minister since
2006, might be ousted. He has faced questions in parliament over
a scandal involving state group Vinashin, a huge state
shipbuilder he had championed but which almost collapsed in 2010
under $4.5 billion in debt.
Bloggers have accused him of greed, cronyism and economic
mismanagement. The authorities have responded with a crackdown
on dissent and three high-profile bloggers were recently jailed
for up to 12 years for anti-state propaganda.
The plenum urged that the business climate should be
improved and foreign investment encouraged, according to a
report by the official Vietnam News Agency.
While it advocated the restructuring and renovation of the
state-owned enterprises (SOEs), “the committee continued to
affirm their core role”, according to the report.
“Resolute adjustments must be made so that the SOEs can have
appropriate structures and take the lead in scientific and
technological renovation … and maintaining the socialist
orientation of the economy,” it said.
However, it added that non-core investments should be ended
and the state should withdraw from firms in which it holds less
than 50 percent of the capital.
In addition, the SOEs “must be reorganised in the model of
joint stock and limited liability companies”.
The central committee also ordered amendments to the 2003
Land Law to tackle corruption, speculation and lawsuits in the
interests of socio-political stability, the report said.
