The amount of European funds that left South Korea reached $18.2 billion in 2011 mainly due to financial woes facing many eurozone economies, a report by the central bank showed Tuesday.
European investors pulled the money from the local bourse last year, contributing to a net outflow of $10.9 billion in stock investments, according to the report by the Bank of Korea.
Despite the withdrawal of funds, the European Union still accounted for 28.1 percent of all inbound investments last year, which was higher than 27.5 percent and 18.4 percent for the United States and Southeast Asian countries.
For the whole of last year, inbound investments edged up 0.9 percent on-year to $839.2 billion. The growth was a sharp drop from a 13.8 percent gain in 2010 and a 33.4 percent surge in 2009.
Outbound investments, meanwhile, grew 8.2 percent on-year to reach an outstanding $435.6 billion as of the end of last year.
Local funds used to buy stocks fell 8.2 percent on weak global stock market conditions caused by eurozone woes, although foreign direct investment in the manufacturing and service sectors jumped 12.2 percent.
The U.S. accounted for 21 percent of all money invested abroad with the EU making up 18.2 percent. Numbers for Southeast Asia and China hit 17.1 percent and 16.1 percent each, according to the report.
