SEOUL, KOREA - Korea's top 600 companies will likely to invest 129.7 trillion won this year, up 13.9 percent from a year ago, according to a survey conducted by the Federation of Korean Industries.
The trade group conducted the survey with the nation's top 600 companies (excluding financial service companies) in terms of 2011 revenues.
The aggregate investment in plants and equipment will reach 106.6 trillion won, up 16.3 percent from the previous year, while R&D investment will likely to grow by 3.6 percent to 23.1 trillion won.
As many as 158 out of the 600 companies replied that they will increase investment this year. This figure is a 1.4 times higher than the 115 companies who responded that they would reduce their investment.
As for the reason why they will increase investment this year, 27.9 percent said that it would be a preemptive investment to enhance competitiveness, followed by 19.7 percent (to strengthen the production of new products and technological development) and 19.2 percent (to launch into new businesses).
