HCMC – Thirty projects invested overseas by State-run enterprises racked up total losses of US$335.5 million in 2021, up 42% year-on-year.

Among them, eight projects in telecommunications made a combined loss of US$293.3 million due to foreign exchange rates and high fees and taxes.

The Vietnamese Government said that global economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions had resulted in the losses.

Some of these overseas projects were suspended due to their poor performance. These projects were PVEP’s oil and gas exploration and production project, the salt mining project in Laos and Viettel Cameroon.

As of late 2021, 30 State-owned firms had had 137 overseas projects, mainly in the oil and gas, telecommunications and rubber fields, up by six projects against 2020, according to the Government.

State-owned firms poured over US$43.6 million into 21 overseas projects in 2021, with PVEP’s project accounting for US$18.9 million and Viettel’s project making up US$15 million.

Last year, State-owned enterprises’ overseas investments totaled over US$6.6 billion, reaching 55% of the total pledged capital. PVN came first in investments at US$4 billion, representing 60% of the total overseas investment. Viettel came second with US$1.5 billion, followed by Vietnam Rubber Group with US$770.8 million.