South Korea's overseas direct investment grew for four years through last year as local manufacturers and financial companies increased investment, a government report showed on Friday.

In terms of remittance, overseas direct investment amounted to 49.78 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, up 11.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

It was the biggest yearly amount since relevant data began to be compiled in 1980, maintaining an upward trend for the fourth consecutive year.

Overseas investment by manufacturers and financial companies jumped over 30 percent last year, with those from the real estate developers growing 10.2 percent.

The sharp increase among manufacturers was attributed to memory chip giant SK Hynix joining a coalition of U.S. and Japanese companies that bought Japan-based Toshiba Memory in June.

By region, direct investment in Asia jumped 34.1 percent, with those to European, North America and Latin America posting a double-digit growth.

During the October-December quarter, the overseas direct investment advanced 30.7 percent to 13.23 billion U.S. dollars compared with the same period of last year.