BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) Busan and Jinhae's free economic zone ranked number 1 in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's (MOTIE) performance evaluations.

On June 29, MOTIE announced it held the 97th Free Economic Zone Committee to deliberate and resolve the "Results of 2017 Free Economic Zone Performance Evaluation and Follow-Up Plan."

MOTIE evaluated the performances of 7 free economic zones including Incheon, Busan and Jinhae, Gwangyang Bay, Daegu and Gyeongbuk, Hwanghae, Chungbuk and East Coast. As a result of the evaluation, the Busan and Jinhae free economic zone ranked first, Incheon second and Gwangyang Bay third.

Busan and Jinhae received outstanding results in 3 of the 5 evaluation categories including project and organization operations, development project execution and investment promotion.

Incheon received the highest reviews for the categories of corporate support and settlement environment.

The total reported amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the free economic zone in 2017 was USD 2.189 billion, a 1.8 percent decrease YoY. The actual amount of FDI received totaled USD 565 million, down 30.8% YoY.

Domestic corporate investment was KRW 4.6 trillion, up 50% YoY.

The evaluations showed outstanding results in bio, industrial complexes, data centers, and research centers, especially in Incheon as well as Busan and Jinhae.

In 2017, there were 137,385 new jobs created via the free economic zones, and 8.6% increase YoY.

MOTIE plans to reduce next year's national expense budget for the 10 districts with the lowest performance evaluations and undesignate the East Coast Bukpyeong District as it ranked last for 3 consecutive years.

bluekey@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

** This article was translated from Korean.

Source: Yonhap News (June 29, 2018)