Korea's credit card spending jumped nearly 14 percent in July from a year earlier, fueled by rising consumer prices and improved employment, a trade association said Thursday.
Purchases made with credit cards totaled 44 trillion won ($38.82 billion) last month, up 13.7 percent from 5.3 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Credit Finance Association (CREFIA).
Compared with the previous month, products bought on plastic edged up 3 percent, partially due to an increase in the number of working days, the association said.
The data includes spending on credit cards and debit and prepaid cards. Cash advances, overseas spending and card loans are not included.
The gain came as the country's consumer prices grew 1.5 percent on-year in July, and more people used credit cards as 470,000 jobs were added to the market over the cited period, CREFIA said.
Spending on utility charges also reported steep growth as more people paid their bills using credit cards, posting a two-fold growth on-year in July, the data showed.
The figure compares with a 16.6 percent on-year jump tallied in July last year, due to a fall in oil prices and a decrease in spending at pricier department stores because of the economic slowdown, the association added.
CREFIA said local credit card spending is likely to continue to rise down the road, although mounting economic uncertainties could decelerate the pace of that growth. (Yonhap)