South Korean companies’ overseas direct investment has expanded at a clip four times faster than the growth rate of their capital spending here over the past decade, a report showed Monday.

According to the report by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the on-year growth rate of overseas direct investment by local firms averaged 17.2 percent between 2003 and 2012, with their local investments increasing at an annual average of 4 percent.

Between 1993 and 2002, the growth rate of local firms’ overseas investment was twice that of their domestic capital expenditures.

The growth rate of local firms’ domestic capital expenditures reached an annual average of 12.9 percent between 1983 and 1992 but it has continued to slow down since then, the report said.

The report said the growth rate of South Korea’s overseas direct investment for the past decade was higher than the 10.9 percent increase for G-8 nations and the 11.9 percent gain for G-20 countries.

The rise in South Korea’s overseas investment stemmed from local firms’ strategy to cut down on their production costs and diversify their markets as well as the government’s regulations on local companies, the KCCI report said. (Yonhap News)