Hanoi (VNA) – Foreign investment funds are interested in fields benefiting from the growingmiddle class in Vietnam, listed companies and those with plans to make initialpublic offering (IPO) in the areas of food, retail, digital technology, aviation,tourism, oil and gas, banking and real estate, said an entrepreneur.

Michel Tosto,Managing Director and head of International Sales & Brokerage of VietCapital Securities, told reporters on the sidelines of Vietnam Access Day heldin Ho Chi Minh City last week that many clients are keen on investing inVietnam thanks to growth potential, stable macro-economy and exchange rates.Vietjet Air, Vincom Retail, Techcombank and VPBank have attracted huge capitalfrom foreign investors, he added.

Ian Gisbourne,ASEAN Research Director at UBS Investment Bank, said Japanese businesses areswitching to Vietnam. In 2017, Japan surpassed the Republic of Korea to becomethe largest foreign investor in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 9.11billion USD. Thai investors also spent big on consumer goods producers such asSai Gon Beer, Nguyen Kim or Binh Minh Plastics.

According tohim, the consumer goods sector in Vietnam is offering promising opportunitiesas the country boasts a young population with higher incomes.

Another attractivefield is digital economy, notably non-cash payment, e-commerce or sharingeconomy such as Grab and Uber. Experts said potential of digital economy in Vietnamis huge as 41 percent of its population is using 3G services while half ofpopulation has smart phones and subscribe to the Internet.

Yee Chung-seck,Executive Lawyer of Baker & McKenzie Vietnam, said digital economy isgrowing very fast in Vietnam. Specifically, e-commerce grows by 35 percentannually with more than 30 fintech providers.

In the past twoyears, the market has seen big deals in digital economy such as JD.com buyingTiki, Sea Limited buying Shopee, or Goldman Sachs and Standard CharteredCapital Equity with Momo e-wallet.

He suggestedthat the country should refine legal regulations on digital economy, especiallysensitive issues such as licensing, competition law and taxation.

Vietnam has apopulation of over 93 million people, one third of them age below 40.The annualgross domestic product growth surpasses 6 percent while urbanisation,smartphone and Internet subscription are more and more popular.-VNA