Gyeonggi Province’s 2017 foreign direct investment total was 2.5 times greater than in 2016.

According to an analysis of 2017 foreign investment data for Gyeonggi Province released by the Ministry of Trade on January 11, foreign direct investment in Gyeonggi Province was 2.5 times (158.8%) greater than in 2016. In fact, the number has climbed from USD 1.37 billion in 2016 to USD 3.56 billion in 2017, and net foreign direct investment inflows also doubled (105.3%) from USD 1.09 billion in 2016 to USD 2.24 billion in 2017.
During the same period, domestic foreign direct investment increased over 7.7% with a total amount of USD 22.94 billion, while domestic foreign direct investment net inflows increased over 20.9% compared to 2016 with a total amount of USD 12.82 billion.

Gyeonggi Province noted a number of factors as main drivers of these increases, including: an investment environment suitable for the 4th Industrial Revolution with complexes such as Pangyo Techno Valley and Pangyo Zero City (2nd Pangyo); the establishment of operations in the region by many global companies; superior human resources; convenient logistic and transportation infrastructure; and significant efforts to develop various investment sites in Gyeonggi Province.
In particular, the analysis highlighted that related proactive efforts such as the investment-attracting diversification strategies of Gyeonggi Province have alone achieved investment leaps even in the midst of difficult circumstances such as the North Korean nuclear issue, the global protectionism trend, and the influence of THAAD retaliation by China.

Last year, Gyeonggi Province signed investment agreements totaling USD 2.35 billion with 15 companies, including: a USD 100 million agreement with PG Automotive Holdings, a hidden champion of Singapore’s automotive parts industry; a USD 1.05 billion agreement (acquisition cost of S-Printing Solution) with the global company Hewlett-Packard; USD 10 million with GCM, a US semiconductor equipment company; and USD 80 million with Golden Jumping group, a Chinese real estate development company.

Meanwhile, since the sixth popular local elections in Korea, Gyeonggi Province has signed 50 direct investment agreements worth USD 7.9 billion that are forecasted to create 33,000 new jobs.