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Malaysia among top 15 FDI destinations
Malaysia is among six Asian markets that enjoy the strongest investor confidence, the latest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index, an annual survey of chief executive officers, chief financial officers and other top executives from the world`s largest companies, has revealed.
The survey conducted by global management consultant firm A.T. Kearney shows that Malaysia jumped eight places from 23rd position to 15th position.
The other Asian countries that moved up the ranks were Hong Kong from 22nd position in 2003 to 8th position this year; and Singapore from 28th to 18th spot.
The robust performances of Malaysia and the other Asian countries were in part driven by North American and European investors seeking to diversify their operations across Asia in anticipating growth opportunities in these markets.
It said Hong Kong, Malaysia and New Zealand received higher confidence nods from Asian investors.
According to the survey, China and India rival one another and are aggressively challenging the United States as the world's most favoured destinations for FDI. For the first time since 2000, 69% of the leading executives were more optimistic about the global economy, compared with only one in 10 expressing pessimism.
China maintained its position as the number one most attractive FDI destination in the world for the third year in a row, while India rose from sixth to third most likely FDI location globally, behind the US.
The survey said that although the US remained the second most attractive FDI location in the world, the gap between the US and India may be closing. China and India dominate the top two positions for most positive investor outlook, likely first-time investments, and most preferred offshore investment locations for business processing functions and IT services.
China`s FDI flows are larger (US$53.5bil) and primarily capital-intensive, while Indian FDI flows are smaller (US$4.3bil) and skill-intensive, concentrated in information and technology areas.
Nearly 70% of global investors are more upbeat on the global economy this year. The last time a majority of investors had such optimism was in 2000.
New York 20/10/04
