Overseas card spending up in Q2 on increased travel

overseas card spending-Q2 tally

Overseas card spending up in Q2 on increased travel

SEOUL, Aug 29 (Yonhap) -- South Koreans' overseas card spending jumped nearly 20 percent in the second quarter of this year as outbound travel spiked amid eased pandemic curbs, central bank data showed Monday.

The amount of money spent overseas by South Koreans with cards, including credit and debit cards, came to US$3.66 billion in the April-June period, up 19.6 percent from $3.06 billion a quarter earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The rise stemmed from increased outbound travel encouraged by eased pandemic curbs.

The number of outbound travelers came to some 944,000 in the second quarter, sharply up from the previous quarter's 406,000, the data showed.

The increased spending came despite the weakening local currency against the dollar, which tends to discourage spending as it makes offshore purchases more expensive.

Card spending on overseas online shopping shrank 9.2 percent on-quarter to $1.03 billion in the second quarter, the data showed.

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