Bond issuance in South Korea fell 1.8 percent in 2021 from a year earlier due to decreased debt sales by the government, data showed Tuesday.

The value of bonds sold in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 829 trillion won ($693 billion) last year, down 15.3 trillion won from 2020, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association.

State-bond issuance shrank 4 percent on-year to 228.4 trillion won, while sales of financial bonds surged 23 percent to 252.2 trillion won. Corporate bond sales also rose 6.4 percent to 104 trillion won.

The issuance of environment, social and governance (ESG) bonds jumped 38.1 percent on-year to 87.2 trillion won.

ESG bonds are a type of sustainability debt offering aimed at financing corporate activities in environmentally friendly and sustainable projects.

Foreign investors' holdings of local bonds reached an all-time high of 214.1 trillion won as of end-December, up 42.6 percent from a year earlier.

As of end-December, the value of outstanding bonds in the country reached 2,462.8 trillion won, up from 2,261 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data. (Yonhap)