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Business risk highest in Vietnam

SINGAPORE: Vietnam tops the list of Asian countries with the highest level of risk for business, while Singapore carries the least risk, a report said.

The Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd (PERC), in a report dated March 1996, said the risk factor in Vietnam was 6.43 on a scale up to 10.

India, scoring 5.9, Philippines 5.63 and Indonesia at 5.59 were the next on the list as the countries which carried the most risk.

However, Singapore scored a rate of 2.53, followed by Japan at 2.85 and Hong Kong at 2.91, the report showed.

PERC said systematic and socio-political risk were highest in Vietnam, China and India and lowest in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Corruption was most problematic in Indonesia, China and Vietnam and less so in Singapore and Japan.

Social risks have increased over the past year the most in Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines and China. Social risks are the highest in India and the risk of labour unrest is greatest in Korea, PERC said.

However, the report noted that the prospects for growth in gross national product (GDP) were greatest in Vietnam and China through 1997, while they were the lowest in Japan, Philippines and Hong Kong.-Reuter