Foreign Declining Investment
The foreign direct investment (FDI) in Korea, which had shown a constant increase for years, decreased in the first quarter of this year.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s data released on April 29, the total amount of the reported FDI dropped 29.8 percent from a year earlier to US$3.55 billion in the first quarter of 2015. On an arrival basis, the amount fell by 16.4 percent to US$3.15 billion. The reported amounts were US$1.54 billion in the first quarter of 2010, US$2.01 billion in Q1 of 2011, US$2.35 billion in Q1 of 2012, US$3.39 billion in Q1 of 2013, and US$5.06 billion in Q1 of 2014.
Investment by the Middle East and the United States increased by 919.2 percent and 52.9 percent to US$210 million and US$1.25 billion, respectively. However, the inflow from Japan dropped by 61.3 percent to US$290 million, and that from China and the E.U. declined by 76.5 percent and 84.6 percent to US$50 million and US$350 million.
The FDI in the service industry went up by 15.9 percent to US$2.97 billion, whereas that in the manufacturing sector dropped 84.3 percent to US$390 million. The decline was led by the slowdown of the Chinese economy and a drop in the prices of petrochemical products.
By type of investment, greenfield FDI showed an increase of 23.4 percent to US$3.08 billion, while M&A FDI reached US$470 million, with a rate of decrease of 81.6 percent.