The IMF projects Vietnam’s GDP growth at 6.1% for 2024, supported by external demand and government policies, despite risks in exports and the real estate sector.

In its recent September report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) significantly upgraded its 2024 GDP growth forecast for Vietnam to 6.1%, anticipating that the country’s GDP will achieve $468.5 billion by year-end. This optimistic projection stems from several positive indicators such as robust external demand, a resilient inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI), and supportive government policies targeted at economic recovery.

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The post IMF Forecasts 6.1% Growth for Vietnam in 2024 Despite Ongoing Challenges first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Thailand has been a popular expatriate destination for investment and retirement for decades, but foreign land ownership has long been restricted.

Foreigners can own no more than 49% of any condominium development and are restricted from owning most freehold estates. Yet Thailand is keen to attract wealthy international investors — particularly those from China.

Thailand’s now-suspended Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha proposed a policy that would allow foreigners to own land for residential use on July 15, 2022. Thai officials claim this will boost the economy by luring wealthy foreigners to spend and invest in the country.

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A nation disadvantaged by geography, Laos has turned to intense infrastructural development and foreign direct investments to accelerate economic growth. As the landlocked nation opens its doors to foreign money, who is it inviting, and what troubles lay ahead?

Once an ancient kingdom and a hub for overland trade, Laos has found it difficult to thrive in a globalised world, after decades of colonisation and war. The country’s mountainous terrain and modest population of 7.2 million have also left it with limited economic opportunities. To solve this, the government has generously welcomed foreign direct investments (FDI) since the 1980s, especially in major infrastructural developments, hoping to leverage capital and skills transfer to improve its economy.

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The post Money flows: Who’s investing in Laos, and what problems do they present? first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Delta Offshore Energy said Tuesday it had secured the environmental approval for the LNG to Power Project, the 3.2 GW power plant, and LNG Terminal in Bac Lieu, Vietnam.

“Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an extremely important key regulatory milestone towards the financial close and validates DOE commitment to the environment,” the company said.

“A key driver to growth is Foreign Direct Investment and this project is a low hanging fruit for such disbursements. The EIA is a key step in unlocking this capital,” says Ian Nguyen,  Ian Nguyen, Co-Founder and Managing Director of DOE.

Vietnam is a developing economy that is undergoing the coal-to-gas conversion to enable the sustainable development of renewable energy and to follow the path of its Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nation peers, DOE said.

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The post Delta Offshore Energy’s Vietnam Project Gets Environmental Approval first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Rackety trucks rush across China’s border with its backwater neighbor, stirring up clouds of dust and drowning the tweets of tropical birds. Chinese projects to construct roads in one of Asia’s poorest countries date back to 1962 when Laos was subject to a proxy war between the global Cold War superpowers. Nowadays, China is its largest foreign investor and aid provider in a series of infrastructure projects, claiming to change local life for better.

But critics have raised serious concerns about the impact of the projects, pointing at their gigantic price tags and environmental issues, among others. Slated to open in December 2021, the China-Laos railway will cost almost $6 billion, 30% of which is to be financed by Laos with loans.

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The post Chinese investment upheavals anger Laos’ indigenous tribes first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The unfortunate speculation that China is building a military base in Cambodian territory is guided by only by ill-intended and misinformed plethora without any evidence.

It is utterly a smear campaign against the national interests of Cambodians and the hard-earned peace and development the national government has been fighting for its people.

This groundless speculation is not new and has been used to harm the reputation and jeopardise national unity.

In 2005, the “String of Pearls” theory was promoted to refer to the network of Chinese military and commercial facilities and relationships along its sea lines of communication, which extend from the Chinese mainland to the Horn of Africa.

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The post Open Letter: Spare Cambodia from Great Power politics in 21st century first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Lawmakers in Laos are urging the government to be stricter on foreign business entities in the country in an effort to protect the environment and protect the livelihood of the people. Khamsaphone Xayavong, a member of parliament from Oumxay district, Oudomxay province in northern Laos, called for extra scrutiny on foreign companies at a provincial assembly conference last week.

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The post Chinese investment in Southeast Asia is plummeting first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The Mekong Delta province of Long An last year issued licenses to 90 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a combined capital of 450 million USD, thus maintaining its leading position in FDI attraction in the region, according to local authorities.

Statistics also show that the number of the FDI projects in the province last year rose to nearly 1,000, with investment capital totaling more than 6 billion USD. Of this, 576 projects with a combined capital of over 3.6 billion USD are now operational.

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The post Long An maintains top position in FDI attraction in Mekong Delta first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Myanmar attracted the most foreign direct investment of any of the world’s so-called “least developed countries” in 2017, even as the nation’s reputation plummeted over its forced expulsion of tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims. The $4.3 billion worth of realized FDI that went into the resource-rich Southeast Asian country put it on top of the global economy’s bottom division of 47 nations, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

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The post Myanmar gets more foreign investment than any other poor nation first appeared on Open Development Mekong.