Overseas Direct Investment
Korea’s foreign direct investment dropped last year for 3 consecutive years. While investment in China showed a two-digit decrease, investment in the U.S. sharply increased centered on the fund and real estate sectors. In particular, investment in the U.S. finance and insurance sector increased explosively, three times more than in the previous year.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance reported on Feb. 12 that last year’s overseas direct investment amount was US$35.07 billion, down 1.5 percent from a year ago (US$35.59 billion). By industry sector, manufacturing (US$8.74 billion) had the largest portion, followed by finance and insurance (US$7.21 billion) and real estate and rent (US$7.02 billion). The finance and insurance sector and the real estate and rental sector increased 78.1 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, from the previous year. On the other hand, the manufacturing sector dropped 12.9 percent.
By country, the U.S. stayed at the immovable first place, beating China since 2008. The investment amount in the U.S. increased 57.1 percent from a year ago with US$9.2 billion. For last year, the finance and insurance sector (up 365.9 percent from a year ago) and real estate and rent sector (56.6 percent) mostly led the investment in the U.S.