Record High FDI

 

The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy announced on Dec. 23 that the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Korea totaled US$20.43 billion on a report basis and US$15.19 billion on an arrival basis as of the previous day. The latter increased by 28.6 percent from a year ago and the former showed an increase of 11.2 percent to break the US$20 billion mark for the first time ever.

The reported amounts were US$1.382 billion (up 526 percent) and US$1.967 billion (up 70.6 percent) when it comes to investments from the Middle East and China, respectively. This can be attributable to large-scale construction and petrochemical projects in the Middle East and the popularity of the Korean Wave and Korean brands in China.

FDI from the United States rose 56.6 percent year on year to US$545 million based on an increase in investment in IT and freight logistics. The amounts fell 61.8 percent and 29.9 percent to US$245 million and US$161 million for the EU and Japan, respectively.

The service industry attracted US$14.51 billion (up 36.7 percent) while the other sectors including construction attracted US$1.58 billion (up 853.2 percent). By investment type, green field investment increased 31.2 percent to US$13.73 billion, whereas M&As decreased by 15.4 percent to US$6.68 billion. “It seems that Korea’s FTAs with multiple countries like China and summit diplomacy in the Middle East, China and the like contributed to the positive FDI growth,” the ministry explained.

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