Overseas construction orders won by domestic firms surpassed 30 billion U.S. dollars for the third consecutive year amid rising material prices and high interest rates.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport as well as the International Contractors Association of Korea on Tuesday, local firms won 31 billion dollars, or around 38-point-five trillion won, in overseas construction orders last year despite difficulties stemming from the global economic downturn and the war in Ukraine.

The value of overseas orders, which posted 22-point-three billion dollars in 2019, has stayed above the 30 billion-dollar mark for three straight years since jumping to 35-point-one billion dollars in 2020.

Last year, 319 companies won 580 orders in 97 countries, of which 39 percent were in Asia, followed by 29 percent in the Middle East, 15 percent in North America and the Pacific region, and eleven percent in Europe.

By country, the largest amount of orders, totaling three-point-67 billion dollars, were won in Indonesia, with three-point-48 billion dollars earned in Saudi Arabia and three-point-46 billion dollars in the U.S.

Source: KBS World Radio