The 'blind rush' by the country's large State-owned enterprises (SOEs) to be listed on international markets has led to a huge loss of State assets and is jeopardizing the mainland's economic stability an expert has warned.

 

Ji Baocheng, president of Renmin University of China and a top economist, said at yesterday's group discussion of Beijing Deputies during the ongoing Fourth Session of the 10^th National People’s Congress that he had hoped that Premier Wen Jiabao's work report would include a warning to regulate or curb the trend.

 

He estimated that at least US$60 billion worth of State-owned assets were lost on international markets from 1993 to 2005 which almost matched the loss resulting from the domestic reform of State-owned enterprises.

 

"The sum is appalling," said Ji, a leading scholar in economic circles. He said his estimate was based on the price gap between the domestic and international Initial Public Offerings (IPO). "An enterprise's international IPO is often 20 percent lower than its domestic one," he commented.

 

By the end of 2005 more than 310 overseas-listed enterprises had a total market value of US$370 billion--more than twice that of those listed domestically, added Ji. He estimated about 100 more are expected to be listed on the international market in the next three years.?

 

"What adds insult to injury is that 80 percent of these internationally-listed SOEs are leaders in their own areas of expertise, have high-quality assets and can create a monopoly for themselves in a certain field,” said Ji "Their low IPOs are causing huge State-owned asset losses," he observed.

 

Ji said that to be listed on the international market these SOEs shrugged off their burden of liability through capital regrouping and ridding themselves of poor assets. "The foreign capitals can then share the high-quality assets and the benefits we achieved through monopolization," he said.

 

Ji urged the central government to curb the 'blind rush' of SOEs to the international marketplace. "Too much internationalization of our stock ownership will pose a danger to China's economic security and exert a negative influence on our future development strategies," he said.

 

He suggested that a system should be set up to carefully screen the SOEs which intend to be listed on overseas markets.

 

(China Daily March 8, 2006)