FDI pledges to S. Korea up 43.6% in Q3 despite pandemic

Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges to South Korea shot up 43.6 percent in the third quarter of 2020 from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, as the manufacturing segment drew a massive investment commitment.

Asia's No. 4 economy received $5.23 billion worth of FDI commitments over the July-September period, compared with $3.61 billion logged the previous year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

But in the first nine months of the year, the FDI pledges edged down 4.4 percent on-year to reach $12.8 billion, the data also showed.

During the January-September period, South Korea won FDI commitments of $3.78 billion in the manufacturing segment, up 9.2 percent from the previous year, on the back of strong gains from the electronics and medical industries.

The service sector, however, received FDI commitments worth $8.91 billion, down 9.5 percent on-year, due to the weak performance of the retail and real estate industries, the data showed.

By country, new FDI pledged from the United States moved down 23.1 percent to $3 billion over the first nine months of 2020.

The FDI pledges from the European Union also decreased 20.6 percent on-year to reach $2.68 billion, and those from Japan halved to $510 million.

The ministry added the FDI pledges from China, on the other hand, more than doubled to $2.6 billion. (Yonhap)