New figures suggest foreign-owned businesses are continuing to ramp up their investment in Vietnam’s garment manufacturing sector in anticipation of the potential Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ´ yet one of the country’s leading economists has urged Vietnam’s authorities to consider restricting the number of textile and garment projects due to environmental concerns.
Latest figures from the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency ranked South Korea as the largest inward investor into Vietnam for 2014 with investments totalling US$7.32 billion, ahead of Hong Kong’s (US$3bn), Singapore (US$2.79bn) and Japan (US$2.05bn). Total foreign direct investment in Vietnam reached US$20.23bn 2014, spread across 54 cities and provinces.