JAKARTA, Sept 14 — Asean recorded a robust rebound in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, surging 42 per cent to reach US$174 billion in 2021 (RM787 billion), its secretary-general Datuk Lim Jock Hoi said.
He said this increase hit the pre-pandemic record level and reversed the decline in 2020 caused by the Covid-19 outbreak and reflects the attractiveness of the region’s economy to global investors.
“With a large market and strong regional integration, Asean remains a major FDI destination in the developing world — second only to China — and will play an important role in driving global economic recovery,” he said in the Asean Investment Report 2022, released today.
Lim said intra-Asean FDI, which continues to be an important source of FDI and the establishment of production networks in the region, has been increasingly driven by emerging opportunities in sectors such as electric vehicles, electronics, digital economy and green technologies.
In fact, startups, in particular the unicorns, have been critical in driving these new trends and contributing to the Industry 4.0 transformation in Asean.
Private equity and venture capital firms have also been playing an increasingly active role to support the growth of start-ups, with total assets under management rising rapidly to US$66 billion in 2021 from US$36 billion in 2017, he said.
The report is prepared by the Asean Secretariat and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in partnership with the Asean Coordinating Committee on Investment and the Asean-Australia Development Cooperation Programme. — Bernama
