S. Korea's overseas investment rebounds first in 4 years

Capital South Korean companies and individuals invested overseas in 2015 topped 40 billion U.S. dollars, rebounding for the first time in four years, a government report showed Friday.

Overseas direct investment by local players reached 40.23 billion dollars in 2015, up 15 percent from the previous year's 35 billion dollars, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

After peaking at 45.74 billion dollars in 2011, the overseas investment kept falling to 39.65 billion dollars in 2012, 35.64 billion dollars in 2013 and 35 billion dollars in 2014. It made the first rebound last year in four years.

Finance and insurance sector led the rebound with 11.37 billion dollars of overseas investment. It was followed by the manufacturing industry with 9.24 billion dollars, the mining sector with 4.94 billion dollars and the real estate area with 4.83 billion dollars each.

The finance and insurance sector's investment surged 65.5 percent, with those for the manufacturing and mining industries rising 7.6 percent and 19.3 percent each in 2015 compared with the previous year.

South Korean companies invested the largest amount of 10.42 billion dollars into the United States in 2015, up 13 percent from a year earlier. It was trailed by China with 4.3 billion dollars, up 14.4 percent from a year ago. Enditem