Bond issuance in South Korea rose solidly in March from the previous month thanks largely to increased state debt sale, industry data showed Monday.

The value of bonds sold in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 71.3 trillion won ($58.1 billion) last month, up 4.7 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association.

Sales of government bonds jumped by 8.9 trillion won to 28.9 trillion won in March, with those of special bonds rising by 971 billion won to 1.7 trillion won.

The issuance of asset-backed securities grew by 1.7 trillion won, while corporate bond sales dropped by 970 billion won.

Sales of environment, social and governance (ESG) bonds declined by 641 billion won to 5.7 trillion won. ESG bonds are a type of sustainability debt offering aimed at financing corporate activities in environmentally friendly and sustainable projects.

Foreign investors bought a net 15.7 trillion won worth of South Korean bonds in March, with their holdings of local bonds hitting an all-time high of 222.5 trillion won, up 600 billion won from the prior month.

As of end-March, the value of outstanding bonds in the country stood at 2,531 trillion won, up 19.6 trillion won from February. (Yonhap)