Foreign direct investment in Korea surges 102 percent in February

KOREA Times 2000/05/08

Foreign direct investment surged 102.3 percent on year in February to total $627 million, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said yesterday.

The investment figure, which was made up mostly of relatively small deals, each valued at less than $10 million, marks a sharp increase from the $310 million foreign direct investment figure recorded during the same period last year.

 "Although there are only 23 working days in February, due to the Lunar New Year holidays, the continued increase demonstrates foreign investment is taking root," the ministry said.

Korea saw 304 separate cases of foreign investment deals during February, a new record. During the same period last year there were 118 foreign investment deals, the ministry said.

During the first two months of this year, Korea received a total of $1.75 billion in foreign direct investment, according to the ministry.

The ministry attributed the increase to strengthened efforts to attract small and mid-sized investments. Cases of foreign investments worth less than $10 million accounted for 96.4 percent of all FDI during February, the ministry said.

In February of 1998, there were only 78 cases of foreign investments valued at less than $5 million. Last month, the number surged to 231 separate cases, the ministry said.

However, obstacles in the path of FDI remain, despite government efforts to streamline investment procedures.

Recently, Frank Hesske, the head of the European Union delegation in Korea, warned that major Korean companies and labor unions were once again growing more resistant toward foreign acquisitions. Hesske also pointed to a lack of urgency and speed in implementing adjustments in various government regulations requested by foreign businesses

2000.03.07