The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has gone up for the third consecutive year, breaking a record 155 billion USD set in 2018 following 147 billion USD in 2017.
Jakarta (VNA) – The flow of foreign directinvestment (FDI) into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) hasgone up for the third consecutive year, breaking a record 155 billion USD set in2018 following 147 billion USD in 2017.
According to the ASEAN Investment Report released onNovember 3, the services industry was the largest recipient of FDI in ASEAN. Inline with the global average, the sector’s share of the bloc’s total FDI grewfrom 50 percent in 1999 –2003 to 66 percent in 2014 – 2018. A significant partof FDI in the sector was channeled into financial services, wholesale andretail, and real estate.
The report focused on the health care industry by analysing relatedFDI, corporate players and start-up data.
ASEAN is strengthening regional cooperation in health carethrough the implementation of various sectoral agreements and strategic actionplans. Efforts to further open up the market to private players and to improvethe investment environment the sector are also progressing.
The report also showed that the region’s share of global FDIinflows increased to 11.5 percent last year from 9.6 percent of 2017. The trendis expected to continue given dynamic industrial developments and improvementsto the investment and business environment in the region.
The ASEAN Investment Report was prepared under a technicalcooperation arrangement between the ASEAN Secretariat and the United NationsConference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), with input from members of theASEAN Coordinating Committee on Investment (CCI) and support from theASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II (AADCP II)./.
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Illustrative photo (Source: asean.org) 
