Vietnam's state utility EVN seen losing $2.75 billion this year

HANOI : Vietnam's state utility EVN will make losses of 64.9 trillion dong ($2.75 billion) this year if its retail electricity prices are kept unchanged, the government said on Wednesday.

This will raise the combined losses that the country's dominant electricity retailer made last year and this year to 93.8 trillion dong, the government said in a statement.

The Southeast Asian country has sought to raise retail electricity prices to encourage investment in the power generation sector, but has also faced pressure to keep inflation under control.

Vietnam earlier this month raised the average floor price for retail electricity by 13.69 per cent, a move that is expected to pave the way for EVN to raise its prices.

"Any adjustment of electricity prices must take into account any possible impacts on inflation, people's lives and on the macroeconomy," Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said in the statement.

Vietnam aims to keep inflation below 4.5 per cent this year. Its consumer prices in December rose 4.55 per cent from a year earlier.