Public firms' FDI reaches record high in H1

SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean public companies' foreign direct investment (FDI) soared to a record high in the first half of this year due largely to brisk efforts to secure natural resources abroad, a state-owned bank said Thursday. The combined FDI by 12 state-run companies and other public institutions reached US$3.5 billion in the January-June period, spiking 238 percent from a year earlier, according to the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank). It was the highest first-half total since 1981 when Eximbank began tracking related data. The amount also accounted for 29 percent of the country's total FDI of $12.1 billion during the six-month period. Investments by major public companies including power monopoly Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) made up 97.4 percent of the total as they poured money into overseas natural resources development, the bank said. The bulk of the public companies' investment, or $3.4 billion, was made in mining while Europe was the largest recipient of their FDI with $1.1 billion. The cumulative FDI of the public companies and institutions stood at $19.6 billion as of end-June, accounting for 11 percent of the country's total of $175.4 billion, Eximbank said.