Japanese firms find Vietnam most promising Asian investment destination

41.2 percent of the 820 valid responses chose Vietnam as the most promising destination for overseas invesment in 2020, according to a survey released Wednesday by Japan-based News Network Asia (NNA), a news agency providing economic and business reports for Japanese companies operating in Asia.

The respondents preferred Vietnam for its growth potential and skilled and low-cost labor force as well as its proximity to China, the world’s second largest economy, showed the survey, conducted from November 26 to December 9 last year.

Vietnam's GDP expanded 7.02 percent in 2019, slowing from 7.08 percent in 2018, but remaining the second highest growth figure in the last decade.

According to the survey, India was second at 12.2 percent, with expectations for its growing market and its potential as a doorway to the Middle East and Africa. Myanmar ranked third at 11.6 percent, while Indonesia was fourth at 6.6 percent.

A survey conducted by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation last month revealed Japanese investors chose Vietnam the third most attractive investment destination behind India and China for the medium and long term.

FDI pledges for new projects, capital supplements and stake acquisitions in Vietnam rose 7.2 percent year-on-year to $38 billion in 2019, marking a 10-year high, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Japan was Vietnam’s fourth largest FDI contributor in 2019 after South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.