ΆΓ Foreign investment down 19.1 percent last month

Korea Herald 2001. 4. 7

Foreign investment in Korea during March amounted to $800 million, down 19.1 percent from the same month a year earlier, with the number of investments also dropping 12.4 percent to 340, the Commerce, Industry and Energy Ministry said yesterday.

First-quarter foreign investments rose 64.5 percent from a year earlier to $4.56 billion. Excluding the $2.96 billion stake in SK Telecom, however, the first-quarter figure represents a drop of 77 percent from a year earlier.

Foreign investments from Japan during the first quarter dropped the most, down 27.6 percent to $184 million from $250 million a year earlier, and the number of investments edged down to 133 from 141.

A ministry official said that the drop in investments from Japan reflects the conservative attitude of Japanese investors as Japanese financial institutions tighten accounting inspections.

Large-scale investments exceeding $10 million each accounted for 2.7 percent of the total during the first quarter, down from 2.9 percent a year earlier, but the weight of small-scale investments below $5 million rose to 96 percent from 93.5 percent of a year earlier.