Invest KOREA

Korea Ranks 31st, Up from Last Year’s 36th

According to the World Investment Report 2013 released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Thursday, net global FDI inflow stood at USD 1.3509 trillion, an 18 percent decrease from last year’s USD 1.6515 trillion.

Net FDI inflow is calculated by subtracting the recovered amount from FDI inflow and adding the reinvestments of foreign investors.

Net FDI inflow of advanced countries and emerging countries dropped by 32 percent and 4 percent, respectively. Emerging countries showed a higher share of net FDI inflow at 52 percent, compared to advanced countries’ 48 percent.

Foreign direct investment through private equity funds was decreased by 34 percent. However, foreign direct investment in sovereign wealth funds doubled at USD 20 billion from last year’s USD 10 billion despite the uncertain global economy.

Regardless of global efforts to prevent tax avoidance, FDI through offshore financial centers stood at USD 80 billion, which is 5.3 times that of the global offshore financial center FDI average prior to 2007.

Global FDI is expected to reach USD 1.45 trillion this year and forecast to increase to USD 1.8 trillion in 2015 under improved global economic circumstances.

Last year, net FDI inflow to Korea stood at USD 9.9 billion, a 3.3 percent decrease from last year’s USD 10.24 billion.

However, the decrease was slight compared to that of other countries including the United States (-26.1 percent), European Union (-41.5 percent) and Hong Kong (-22.4 percent). Korea was ranked 31st among 207 countries in terms of net FDI inflow.

Korea’s FDI stock last year was at USD 147.23 billion, accounting for 12.7 percent of the global domestic product (GDP).

Korean companies’ global investment last year grew by 13.7 percent at USD 32.97 billion from USD 28.99 billion in 2011. Global investment stock stood at USD 196.41 billion.


Source Text

Source: Newsis (June 27, 2013)

** This article was translated from the Korean.