GWANGJU < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(GWANGJU = Yonhap News) The city of Gwangju expected that it would record a trade balance of USD 11 billion and top the trade balance among Korea’s metropolitan cities in 2013.

According to an announcement of the city, it recorded a total of USD 9.93 billion trade surplus until the November 2013.

It is expected to reach USD 11 billion if the December’s result is included.

It is about 20 percent increase from the last year’s trade surplus of USD 9.39 billion.

The city’s achievements were mainly due to the fact that its imports were stagnant or slightly increased, while exports have seen a dramatic increase every year.

Exports of Gwangju in 2009 were USD 8.8 billion, and it increased to USD 11.5 billion, USD 13.3 billion in 2011, and last year it reached USD 14.1 billion. This year’s forecast of USD 16 billion is nearly double of the amount in 2009.

Exports of Gwangju in 2013, in particular, surpassed Busan by 20 percent.

The acceleration of Gwangju’s industrialization is because the city concentrated on fostering industries as a new growth engine including automotive, home electronic appliances and optical industries that have great ripple effect on local economy.

shchon@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Dec. 18, 2013)

** This article was translated from the Korean.