S Korea's facility investment predicted to decline next year

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Chinese media) -- South Korea's facility investment is expected to

decline next year for the second straight year as a global economic slump has

begun to spill over into the real economy, the central bank said Monday.

According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), the country's facility investment is

projected to decline 3.8 percent next year, even lower than 0.2 percent fall

estimated for this year. In the fourth quarter of 2008, South Korea's facility

investment is estimated to have declined 7.2 percent from a year ago, compared

with a 4.7 percent gain three months earlier, the BOK added.

If the projection is correct, it would be the first time that facility

investment has contracted for the second straight year since the 1997-98 Asian

financial crisis. In 1997 and 1998, facility investment dropped 9.6 percent and

42.3 percent, respectively compared to a year earlier, the central bank said.

The data comes as the South Korean economy expanded 0.5 percent in the

third quarter from the previous quarter, posting the weakest growth in four

years.