Foreigners may see South Korea as one of the toughest investment destinations among the world's major countries mostly due to limits on foreign equity ownership, a report showed Monday.
According to the report compiled by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, South Korea's "Restrictiveness Index" for foreign direct investment (FDI) was 0.142, the sixth highest among 31 member
countries.
The index was based on regulatory barriers for foreign investment in terms of four categories, including foreign equity limits and rules on
operation of foreign enterprises in each nation. If the index nears 1, it means restrictions on FDI is high.
South Korea had more restrictions than other countries in foreign equity ownership with its subindex remaining at 0.139, the highest figure among the nation's four analyzed categories, the report showed.
Iceland posted the highest restrictiveness index of 0.430, followed by Mexico with 0.264, New Zealand with 0.263, Japan with 0.241 and Canada with 0.153, the report showed.
Luxembourg and the Netherlands were the most open markets for inbound investment with 0.004 each. Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Finland and Slovakia also saw their FDI restrictiveness index remain relatively low compared to those of other OECD members, according to the report.