SEOUL, July 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's economy posted the biggest foreign direct investment in the first half thanks to strong investment from the European Union, a government report showed Wednesday.
Foreigners directly invested 15.75 billion U.S. dollars into South Korea in the January-June period, up 64.2 percent from the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
It was the biggest first-half figure ever recorded by the South Korean economy. The number surpassed 13.59 billion dollars tallied in the January-September period last year.
European investors spent 4.57 billion dollars on directly investing in South Korea in the first half, more than doubling from a year earlier.
Direct investment by U.S. investors advanced 23.2 percent over the year to 3.01 billion dollars in the first half. The direct investment from China more than quadrupled to 2.2 billion dollars in the same period.
By industry, direct investment in the country's manufacturing industry surged 155 percent to 7.21 billion dollars.
In the services sector, the foreign direct investment gained 25.3 percent to 8.37 billion dollars.
Merger & acquisition (M&A) investment, which buys stocks and equities, jumped 71.2 percent to 2.92 billion dollars.
The greenfield investment, which builds factories and creates jobs, advanced 62.7 percent to 12.83 billion dollars in the same period.
