ASEAN still short of bringing in investment

ASEAN still short of bringing in investment

MANILA (AFP): "Bold measures" instituted by the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to attract foreign capital have
yet to bring investment levels back to their levels before the
1997 regional economic crisis, ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo
Severino admitted here Saturday.

Severino said total foreign direct investment in ASEAN
countries implementing the measures had reached only US$6.2
billion in the first half of 1999 and totaled $17 billion in
1998.

This was still below the $21 billion registered in 1997 and
the 18 billion dollars in 1996, Severino said.

ASEAN ministers in 1998 released "a Statement on Bold
Measures" offering an array of special incentives to qualified
foreign investors from January 1, 1999 to December 31, 2000 in
order to generate a sharply higher inflow of investment in the
wake of the crisis.

The measures included 100 percent foreign equity ownership in
manufacturing sectors, certain corporate income tax exemptions
and duty-free imports, domestic market access and granting of
national status to investors from other ASEAN countries.

Severino said this did not show the bold measures had failed
but admitted not enough investors may have heard about the
measures.

"It is also a matter of selling these to potential investors,"
he said, adding such a selling campaign would soon be launched.

He also stressed that in the past much of the foreign direct
investment in ASEAN countries came from their neighbors and since
these neighbors were also recovering from the 1997 crisis, their
investments were likely to be lower as well.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand were all hit
hard by the 1997 currency crisis, with the other members being
affected by the fall-out as well.