S. Korea's overseas investment falls sharply

SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's overseas investments fell sharply in the first nine months of this year compared with 2008 as the global economic slowdown discouraged local investors from taking risks abroad, a government report showed Wednesday.

According to the report by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, South Korea's
overseas investments amounted to US$13.35 billion in January-September, down 48.7
percent from the same period a year earlier, when the total reached $26.05
billion.
There was an across-the-board drop of 74.2 percent on-year in investments in
foreign real estate and rental business, the report found.
"The decline is mainly due to the worldwide economic slowdown, which caused most
investors to transfer less money overseas," the report said. It added that while
there have been signs of modest improvements in outbound investment, negative
growth will probably continue into the fourth quarter.
Investments to China plunged 92.9 percent to just $400 million from $5.7 billion
tallied for same period the year before. Money flowing to the United States
dropped 81.7 percent to $700 million. The report, however, said investments to
Russia gained 33.3 percent on-year thanks to money used by Hyundai Motor Co. to
build a plant in St. Petersburg.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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