Businesses regard Asean as the most attractive for investment

A recent survey conducted by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) revealed that China and Myanmar stand to be the most promising destinations for foreign direct investment between now and 2015.

China was the most attractive in the world for such activities with 17.3%, followed by 12% voting for Myanmar.

The rest are as follows: Malaysia – 11%; Singapore – 8%; Indonesia – 7%; Vietnam – 6%; Laos – 4%; Thailand – 3%; Cambodia – 3%;  the Philippines – 1%;  and Brunei – 0.3%)

Furthermore, the survey found that more than half of the businesses considered ASEAN economic integration to pose a low or very low threat to their organizations, rating the threat level at an average of 2.49 on a scale of 1 (very low) to 5 (very high).

Close to 60 percent of the businesses considered ASEAN economic integration to be providing high or very high opportunity for their organizations, giving the opportunity level an average rating of 3.59 on a scale of 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). However, the survey also noted that a lower share of small or local firms shared this sentiment.

The 2013 Survey collated 502 usable responses across various firm-size categories, age, ownership profiles and industries from all ten ASEAN member economies.