Hanoi. Vietnam plans to sell next year a 24.86 percent stake in state-owned Vietnam National Petroleum Corp, or Petrolimex, the government said on its website late on Monday (21/08), as part of efforts to speed up the privatization of state firms.

Petrolimex, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange since April, hold about half of Vietnam's retail fuel distribution market share. Vietnam's trade ministry owned about 75.9 percent stake in Petrolimex at the end of 2016, its filings showed.

Vietnam's government has been striving to trim its stakes in state-owned enterprises, many of which have low profitability, but the progress has been slow given the small sizes offered, sizable state control and concerns about vested interests.

Vietnam's government plans to divest 60 trillion dong ($2.64 billion) from 135 state owned enterprises (SOEs) in 2017. It will make another 181 divestments in 2018, 62 in 2019 and 28 in 2020, the government said.

The state also wants to sell its 20 percent stake in Airports Corp of Vietnam in 2018 and another 10.4 percent in 2020, and would divest a further 35.2 percent in flag carrier Vietnam Airlines JSC in 2019, the plan said.

Vietnam said earlier this month it would sell a little more than 3 percent stake in state-owned dairy company Vinamilk this year, after a similar exercise in 2016 saw a tepid response from investors unhappy over highly restrictive investment limits.

Reuters