Vietnam among Asia's top 10 investment hotspots

US economic analyst IHS Inc. has ranked Vietnam among the top 10 hotspots of foreign direct investment in Asia Pacific, saying the country's economy will continue to expand at a fast pace. 

The country is one of the six foreign investment hubs in Southeast Asia, besides Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand, the company said on Thursday. Others are Bangladesh, China, India and Sri Lanka.

Southeast Asia will be a key factor that will help Asia Pacific achieve an economic growth of 4.5 percent a year over the next decade, it said.

As frontier markets, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are forecast to continue to grow rapidly with Vietnam's pace to be around 6.5 percent annually over the next 15 years.

There will be strong growth in the sectors of electronics and garment, as their exports will increase rapidly thanks to Vietnam's newly-signed free trade agreement with the EU, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership between Vietnam and 11 other countries, including Japan and the US, according to the company.

IHS also expected Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand to see their gross domestic product exceed US$1 trillion by 2030.

Vietnam's foreign direct investment inflows topped US$4.02 billion in the first three months, more than twice the figure for the same period last year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency.

Manufacturing and processing continued to attract the largest amount, $2.9 billion, followed by property with $240 million.