International News

SEOUL, June 18 (APP): Loans taken out to finance
facility expansions reached an all time high in March, in line
with a recovery in exports and the global economy, data showed
Sunday.
According to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea, facility
loans reached a record 404.87 trillion won (US$356 billion) as of
end-March, up 9.21 trillion won from the end of last year.
From a year ago, the figure also swelled by 42.39 trillion
won, the data showed.
The data indicate that local firms are set to increase spending
on facility expansions as the global economy is on a recovery track.
Facility investment in the country increased 4.4 percent in
the first quarter of the year from three months earlier, decelerating
from the fourth quarter’s 5.9 percent on-quarter expansion.
But when the fourth-quarter growth rate is not counted,
the first-quarter’s expansion pace marks the highest since the
first quarter of 2012, when the comparable figure was 13.1 percent.
On a yearly basis, the first-quarter facility investment also
is the highest since the third quarter of 2010, according to the
data.
In a survey on some 3,600 firms by the state-run Korea
Development Bank, the respondents said they will spend a combined
181.8 trillion won on facility investment this year, up 0.5
percent from a year earlier.
The central bank earlier projected that this year’s
facility investment will surge 6.3 percent, rebound from last
year’s 2.3 percent on-year fall.