Indonesia favored for investment

Indonesia favored for investment

JAKARTA (JP): Executives in Australia consider Indonesia the
best investment destination in Southeast Asia, revealed Asia
Business News (ABN) and the Far Eastern Economic Review's Asian
Executives Poll.

The poll was based on 300 top executives from 10 different
countries and territories in Asia.

Of the executives polled in Australia, 38.5 percent favor
Indonesia, followed by the Philippines (19.2 percent) and
Thailand (15.4 percent).

At the opposite end, 44 percent of the executives polled in
Australia say Vietnam is the least attractive investment prospect
in Southeast Asia.

Of the respondents from Japan, 32.1 percent think that
Thailand offers the best investment opportunities, followed by
Malaysia and the Philippines (17.9 percent each), Singapore and
Indonesia (14.3 percent each) and Vietnam (3.6 percent).

Nearly half of the executives polled in Japan rate Brunei as
the least attractive site in which to invest.

South Korean executives agreed with their Japanese
counterparts and reckon Thailand and Malaysia offer the best
prospects, and rate Brunei as the least attractive investment
spot in Southeast Asia.

The majority of Asian executives polled think their public
servants generally do a good job, but a little over a quarter
reckon they fall short of the mark.

Of the respondents in Taiwan and the Philippines, 60 percent
think their countries' civil service is inefficient, as do more
than 37 percent of respondents in Thailand. In contrast, one in
five executives polled in Hong Kong and half of Singapore
respondents gave their civil service top marks.

Most respondents in the region think corruption is endemic.
One in five of those surveyed in the Philippines think corruption
is rife in their civil service. A quarter of the respondents in
Thailand think the same. (hen)