Card spending climbs 11% in April on eased COVID-19 rules
gettyimagesbank
Card use for settlement in Korea swelled 11 percent in April on eased anti-COVID-19 rules with spending on travel and transportation spiking, data showed Tuesday, in a sign the country's consumption is returning to pre-pandemic normalcy.
Spending using credit, debit and prepaid cards came to 90.3 trillion won ($71.9 billion) in April, compared with 81.3 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Credit Finance Association.
The number of approved card settlements also climbed 10.6 percent year-on-year to 2.14 billion cases in the month.
In particular, card spending in the transportation sector, including railroad, aviation and bus services, shot up nearly 70 percent to 1.8 trillion won in April.
Card use for settlement in the travel and related services area also surged 40.4 percent from a year earlier to 320 billion won.
"Card spending on travel and transportation has been rising sharply since the government sharply loosened COVID-19 restrictions in April," an industry source said. "That shows Korea is quickly returning to pre-COVID-19 normalcy."
Korea scrapped most COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, including middle-seat vacancy rules, business hour curfews and a food ban on indoor public places, April 18, as part of its efforts to return to normal.
Meanwhile, major credit card issuer Samsung Card said card use by its members in the United States, Japan and 12 other countries jumped 17 percent in April thanks to a surge in the number of outbound travelers.
Card use for the purchase of flight tickets and items at duty-free shops expanded 19 percent in April from a year earlier, said Samsung Card, the credit card arm of Korea's top conglomerate, Samsung Group. (Yonhap)