Gwangyang Economic Zone Authority Announces Business Survey Results

by Heo Seonsik

Published 05 Jan.2024 13:55(KST)

Updated 14 Aug.2025 21:33(KST)

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Overall Economic Indicators Rise

Significant Increase in Sales and Investment Amounts

The Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Zone Authority (Commissioner Song Sang-rak, hereinafter GFEZ Authority) announced that despite recent domestic and international economic downturns, overall economic indicators in the Gwangyang Bay Area have significantly improved according to the results of the "2022 GFEZ Business Survey" conducted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The GFEZ Authority conducted a survey from May to October 2023 over six months targeting businesses located in the Gwangyang Bay Area with five or more employees and foreign-invested companies with at least one employee. The survey covered 69 items including general business status, employment status, sales, and management conditions for the year 2022.

[Photo by Gwangyang Economic Promotion Agency]

According to the survey results, as of December 2022, the number of resident businesses was 714 (compared to 645 the previous year), marking a 10.7% increase year-on-year, and employment reached 23,754 people (compared to 19,497 the previous year), a 21.9% increase.

The increase in resident businesses and employment led to positive outcomes in sales. Sales amounted to KRW 14,494.4 billion (KRW 8,978.2 billion the previous year), soaring 61.4% year-on-year, and exports also showed a high growth rate of 20.3%, reaching KRW 1,552.8 billion (KRW 1,290.7 billion the previous year). Imports increased by 7.2% to KRW 1,059.7 billion (KRW 988.6 billion the previous year).

Corporate investment in the Gwangyang Bay Area was KRW 196.4 billion (KRW 103.7 billion the previous year), an 89.4% increase year-on-year, while production value was KRW 4,115.3 billion (KRW 4,096.8 billion the previous year), showing a 0.5% increase.

Starting with this survey, the GFEZ Authority refined the survey scope from the previous district-level to the industrial complex level.

The detailed data derived will be used as a resource for policy development, investment attraction strategy formulation, and the establishment of practical corporate support measures.