Foreign direct investment in S.Korea posts double-digit growth in Q1

SEOUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Korea posted a double-digit growth in the first quarter due mainly to a big increase in investment from China, a government report showed Wednesday.

The reported FDI was 4.93 billion U.S. dollars in the January-March quarter, up 28.1 percent from the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It marked the second-biggest figure for the March quarter as China's direct investment into South Korea more than quintupled to 1.05 billion dollars compared with a year earlier.

Direct investment from the European Union more than doubled to 1.87 billion dollars in the first quarter, with those from the United States rising to 740 million dollars.

Japan's direct investment in South Korea shrank 9.6 percent over the year to 370 million dollars in the quarter.

By industry, FDI in the manufacturing industry gained 58.6 percent to 1.54 billion dollars. The figure in the services sector expanded 18.6 percent to 3.34 billion dollars.

By type, the greenfield investment, which builds plants and create jobs, increased 16.2 percent to 3.56 billion dollars, the biggest-ever figure for the first quarter.

The investment through merger and acquisition (M&A) jumped 73.8 percent to 1.38 billion dollars. Enditem