Vietnam has increasingly become a favourite of foreign investorsworldwide, said Il Sole 24 Ore, an Italian national business newspaper.
The article titled “I capitali esteri scelgonoil Vietnam” (Foreign capitals choose Vietnam) on May 12 said foreigndirect investment (FDI) to Vietnam reached 24 million USD last year, a31 percent surge against 2013. The country garnered 9 percent of theforeign capital destined for Asia, making it the second largestdestination of FDI in the continent after China.
The number of FDI projects doubled to 241 in 2014 from 118 in 2013, it added.
Vietnam’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 6 percent lastyear and is expected to grow to 6.1 percent and 6.2 percent in 2015 and2016, respectively.
According to Il Sole 24Ore, the promising manufacturing sector coupled with relatively lowlabour costs were key factors attracting foreign investors to thecountry despite growing competition from other economies in the region,such as Laos, Indonesia and Cambodia.
Citing FDIMarkets, a service of Financial Times, the paper noted that the mainreason why 60 percent of surveyed foreign investors chose Vietnam is therapid growth of its domestic market. Around 10 percent were lured bythe low Vietnamese labour costs relative to other regional countries.
US-based Proctor and Gamble has announced theconstruction of a 100 million USD factory in southern Binh Duongprovince, the manufacturing heartland of the country, while Samsung wasconsidering transferring its production of LCD screens to Vietnam orChina due to the rise in labour costs in the Republic of Korea, it said.
Samsung is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam and about to become the largest foreign employer in the country.
Although FDI in Vietnam rose by 5 percent during the first fourmonths of 2015, the country has begun to tighten its belt towards thegoal of developing a more sustainable economy.
Several provinces of the nation have rejected investment projects thatwere likely to increase pollution, consume too much land or require aconsiderable amount of unskilled labour.
According to the newspaper, it is a good time for Italian companies whocan provide technologies and expertise to improve the quality ofproduction in Vietnam to invest.-VNA