Koreans' overseas card spending hits record high in Q1

/ Yonhap

Overseas card spending by South Koreans hit a fresh record high in the first quarter on rising outbound tourists, central bank data showed Thursday.

In the January-March period, a record $5.07 billion worth of purchases were made abroad, up 11.4 percent from three months earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea. From a year earlier, the Q1 tally marked a 26 percent increase.

Overseas card spending includes credit and debit cards.

The hike came as more people went overseas during the winter vacation season and the four-day Lunar New Year's holiday in February. Some 7.43 million South Korean nationals traveled to foreign countries from January through March, up 8.2 percent from a quarter earlier.

Meanwhile, card spending by foreign visitors in South Korea edged down 1.1 percent on-quarter to $2.07 billion over the same three-month period. (Yonhap)