Philippine newspaper: Vietnam "attracts" foreign capital the fastest in Southeast Asia

According to news from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, foreign investment organizations in the Philippines are urging President Aquino's administration to review the country's investment attraction policy because they are concerned about the decreasing flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Philippines.

"It is important to realize that Southeast Asia is a rapidly growing economic region and the country attracting the strongest FDI in the region is Vietnam. Besides, Vietnam is also currently the largest exporter in the region to the US market and is receiving a large investment flow from China" - said John D. Forbes, Senior Advisor to the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines.

According to Mr. Forbes, the Philippines can absolutely attract more investment capital. Accordingly, in 2014 this country attracted over 6 billion USD of FDI capital but what is worrying is that this number has decreased by nearly 50% in the first 4 months of this year.

According to the latest data from the Bangko Sentral Pilipinas (BSP) Central Bank, in the first 4 months of this year, net FDI inflows into the Philippines decreased by 48.3% to 1.2 billion USD compared to 2.38 billion USD in the same period last year. In April 2015 alone, FDI only reached 382 million USD, down 43% over the same period.

BSP data also shows that in the first 4 months of the year, the country's net investment capital decreased by 50.5%; down to 279 million USD.

Meanwhile, Mr. Henry J. Schumacher - Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines emphasized that the country needs to continue to open the economy, abolish regulations that are "making it difficult" for investors... to attract FDI capital flows.

"Corruption and bribery also need to be eliminated, just like renewing the business environment. We are waiting for change. What we want is for the door to open wider to create greater competitive pressure" - Mr. Schumacher shared.

Previously, the advisory group Stratbase ADR Institute of the Philippines pointed out that the Philippines has only 'opened its doors for businesses'. As a result, their potential for economic growth continues to be hindered by restrictive regulations, leading to "hindering" the flow of FDI into the country.

“Constitutional provisions on foreign investment in real estate and key industries have led to a “half-hearted” business environment, preventing the flow of much-needed FDI capital to the Philippines” – Victor A. Manhit, Chairman of ADRi said in a speech.