New foreign direct investment (FDI) pledged to South Korea jumped 38 percent on-year in the first nine months of this year despite slowing economic growth at home and abroad, the government said Sunday.

In the January-September period, the amount of new FDI pledges to South Korea came to US$14.82 billion, up 37.9 percent from a year earlier and the highest-ever figure for the nine-month period, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The amount of new FDI that arrived here during the period reached a record high of $9.77 billion, up 50.1 percent from a year earlier.

In the nine-month period, new FDI pledges from China skyrocketed 230.4 percent on-year to $1.03 billion, with the combined total from all Chinese-speaking countries, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, soaring 89.8 percent to $3.01 billion.

New FDI pledges from the European Union spiked 84.1 percent on-year to $5.93 billion, and those from the United States climbed 6.4 percent to $2.86 billion.

In contrast, new FDI pledges from Japan shrank 16.6 percent to $1.64 billion.

The ministry said that despite negative factors at home and abroad, South Korea will likely achieve its annual FDI target of $17 billion thanks to a host of measures to boost foreign investment here. (Yonhap)