FDI and Infrastructure Improvement of ASEAN

Abstract

As a synthesis of capital, technology, knowledge and information, foreign direct investment(FDI) has a significant impact on the host country's economy, and the infrastructure is no exception which is an important part of one country's economy. This paper aims to empirically analyse the impact of FDI on infrastructure, using the panel data of ASEAN countries’ infrastructure and FDI from 2003 to 2017 and compare the infrastructure effect of FDI from China and FDI from countries besides China. Result shows that FDI of ASEAN countries did improve the infrastructure level and for every 1% increase in FDI of ASEAN countries, the infrastructure level of ASEAN countries rose 0.308%. In addition, FDI from China of ASEAN countries did improve the infrastructure level and for every 1% increase in FDI from China of ASEAN countries, the infrastructure level of ASEAN countries rose 0.252%. Therefore, as a bottleneck of ASEAN's economic development, infrastructure can be improved by attracting FDI, especially FDI from China.