February FDI drops 47 percent

Foreign direct investment (FDI) stood at $329 million in February, down 47.5 percent from the same period last year, the Commerce, Industry and Energy Ministry said Wednesday.

But the number of reported cases rose 5.9 percent to 268 Investments of less than $5 million won made up 95.9 percent of all cases, with investments of between $5 million and $10 million accounting for 1.5 percent in four cases. Seven cases or 2.6 percent were investments of $10 million to $100 million.

By industry, FDI in the manufacturing sector came to 28 percent of the total, up 4.9 percent, while foreign investments in the service sector accounted for 72 percent, down 4.9 percentage points.

By investment type, establishing new companies, participating in capital increases and securing new shares accounted for $298 million, or 90.6 percent of the total, followed by acquiring stocks with $16 million, or 4.9 percent, and long-term loans with 4.5 percent.

Meanwhile, accumulated FDI between January and February this year came to $3.76 billion, up 111.8 percent from the same period last year. The number of cases declined 9.1 percent to 508.

[Yonhap]