The figure for the year through March was a record high for the region since JBIC became independent of government-owned Japan Finance Corp. in 2012, informed sources said.

The surge came after Japanese companies expanded their operations mainly for infrastructure projects on the back of economic growth in Southeast Asia.

The Japanese government is promoting infrastructure exports as part of its growth strategy.

Against this background, JBIC's annual Asian-bound investment and loans have stood at 500 billion to 600 billion yen in recent years.

The tally dipped to 332.9 billion yen in fiscal 2015. But the following year saw the robust growth thanks to a rise in the number of large-scale projects involving Japanese companies, the sources said.

Among them were a thermal power generation project in Indonesia and a large-scale liquefied natural gas development project, according to the sources.

Meanwhile, the overall amount of investment and loans made by JBIC totaled 2.24 trillion yen in fiscal 2016, down by slightly over 6 pct.

Many Japanese companies apparently grew more cautious about investment in Europe and Latin America, due to rising political risks reflecting Britain's planned exit from the European Union and the launch of the administration of US President Donald Trump, the sources said. (Jiji Press)