On July 4, the KEXIM Overseas Economic Research Institute released a handbook covering the political, economic, and social issues of 214 nations as well as their development indices.

Volatile and rapidly changing political and economic environments, such as the EU sovereign debt crisis and power shifts in the Middle East, have made it more important than ever to secure country information.

In addition, increasing trade between Korea and emerging markets has increased demand for information regarding countries of export and investment.

The newly released handbook by the KEXIM Overseas Economic Research Institute will undoubtedly be a useful resource for strengthening economic cooperation at various levels and developing market entry strategies.

The handbook, first released in 1985, is based on the World Bank List of Economics, a report released by the World Bank each June.

This year, the handbook not only covers political, economic, and social indicators of various countries, but the 2012 version also covers foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics, political developments, foreign relations, economic trends, and trade trends of 42 emerging investment markets.

The handbook appendix is a storehouse of country information such as economic rankings, mineral resource amounts and respective marketshare, oil and natural gas production and consumption amounts, renewable energy development levels, corporate management conditions, and international competitiveness rankings.

The Bank will distribute 3,000 copies of the handbook to various ministries, the National Assembly, financial institutions, companies, and the press, free of charge.