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Viet Nam has 200 super-rich people, with fortunes valued at US$30 million or more, according to the Wealth Report 2017 by the UK’s leading independent real estate consultancy Knight Frank.
The recent report showed that the number of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI) in Viet Nam was up 32 against 2015, and 50 against 2014. The super-rich group increased sharply by 320 per cent from 2006 to 2016, the fastest growth in the world in comparison with India’s 290 per cent and China’s 281 per cent.
UHNWIs are people with investable assets of at least $30 million, excluding personal assets and property such as a primary residence, collectibles and consumer durables. UHNWIs comprise the richest people in the world and control a disproportionate amount of global wealth.
Viet Nam’s ultra-rich population was growing faster than any economy in the world, and was expected to see the fastest growth in its UHNWI by 2026, with a 170 per cent increase in people with $30 million or more, taking the total up to 540. The number of millionaires is predicted to jump from 14,300 to 38,600 over the same period. The World Bank described the transformation of Viet Nam’s economy as “remarkable”, in which economic and political reforms are leading to higher incomes. – Viet Nam News

Three Japan firms infusing P14.5 bn in Philippines 
Philippine’s Department of Trade and Industry reported a total of P14.5 billion (Bt10 billion) worth of new Japanese investments coming to the Philippines.
The projects, which would add tens of thousands of jobs, are the most recent addition to the lineup of projects that President Duterte brought home from his trip to Japan late last year.
Three companies account for the new investments, according to Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, with one particular firm – which requested anonymity until the plan was made public— pledging half of the total value. 
The trade chief, who went to Japan earlier this week to meet with his counterpart and the Japanese investors, said the two companies that shared their expansion plans were Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. and Ichijo Co. Ltd.
Tsuneishi is planning to put up a ship recycling project valued at about P5 billion, which is expected to create 6,000 new jobs in the Philippines.
This would be the third project for the company under the Duterte administration, following two separate expansion plans that the firm committed to during Duterte’s visit to Japan in October last year. The President brought home from Japan $19 billion worth of investment pledges and loans. – Philippine Inquirer 

Investors to study feasibility of tourism complex in Laos 
A Chinese company is keen to develop a tourism complex on a disused airfield in Vangvieng, a riverside town in Central Laos, to attract more visitors to the already popular tourist hotspot.
The provincial authorities agreed on Tuesday that the Yijin Construction Engineering Lao Co Ltd. could start a feasibility study for the project, which will take about one year.
If the company goes ahead with the project, it will invest about US$200 million. The complex will include a concert hall, exhibition hall, an ‘ice playground’, fountain park, shopping centre, children’s recreation area, water park, hotels, apartments. – Vientiane Times