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According to Yonhap News,

SEOUL, May 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's major business groups increased their spending by 22 percent in the first quarter of the year in the face of the new coronavirus outbreak, industry data showed Sunday.

According to the data compiled by industry tracker CEO Score, 373 companies affiliated with 59 business groups spent 21.78 trillion won(US$17.66 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 17.84 trillion won a year earlier.

Their increased spending indicates that they are now preparing for the future to secure competitiveness after the coronavirus pandemic.

Their combined sales increased 7.1 percent on-year to 356.69 trillion won, while operating income shed 39.1 percent to 14.88 trillion won over the cited period, the data showed.

By group, top conglomerate Samsung Group spent 7 trillion won in the first quarter, a sharp rise from 3.73 trillion won a year earlier. Samsung Electronics Co., the group's flagship, jacked up its spending to 6.47 trillion won from 3.07 trillion won over the cited period.

Energy and telecom giant SK Group's investment fell to 3.87 trillion won from 4.29 trillion won.

Hyundai Motor Co., the country's top automaker, spent 928 billion won in the January-March period.

SK Telecom Co., the country's top mobile carrier, spent 347 billion won, and Korean Air Lines Co. spent 225 billion won in the first quarter, according to the data.

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Source: Yonhap News (May 17, 2020)