Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges to South Korea hit an all-time high last year, surpassing US$30 billion for the first time, data showed Tuesday.
Foreigners pledged to invest US$30.45 billion here last year, up 3.2 per cent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Yonhap reported that the previous record high was US$29.51 billion in 2021.
The amount of investment that actually arrived in South Korea, however, fell 3.1 per cent on-year to US$18.03 billion.
The number of FDI pledges grew 12.1 per cent to 3,463, and the number of investments that actually arrived rose 12.4 per cent to 2,325, the data showed.
By segment, the manufacturing sector saw FDI pledges more than double to US$12.48 billion, an all-time high, particularly in the textile and clothing, chemical engineering, metal and electronics fields.
But FDI pledges made to the service sector decreased 29.6 per cent to US$16.59 billion.
The service sector accounted for 54.5 per cent of the fresh investment pledges, with the remainder in the manufacturing field, according to the data.
By country, investment from the United States soared 65.2 per cent to US$8.69 billion. The US accounted for 28.5 per cent, or the largest share, of the total investment pledges made to South Korea last year.
But investment from the European Union retreated 36.9 per cent to US$8.07 billion, and the amount from Chinese-speaking nations went down 31.6 per cent to US$5.16 billion, the ministry said.
By type, greenfield investments jumped 23.4 per cent on-year to reach a record high of US$22.32 billion, while investments in the form of mergers and acquisitions went down 28.8 percent on-year to US$8.14 billion, the data showed.
Greenfield investments refer to when a parent company begins a new venture or establishes new facilities.
“The FDI growth is expected to have positive impacts on employment and corporate investment in other related fields,” a ministry official said. “The government will continue its deregulation drive and continue to boost incentives for foreign investors.”
