Last Year Overseas Card Spending Down 1.7%... First Decline Since Financial Crisis

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Eun-byeol] Last year, the overseas card spending by residents decreased by 1.7% compared to the previous year. This is the first time since the financial crisis that annual overseas card spending has declined.

According to the Bank of Korea's "2019 Overseas Card Usage Performance of Residents" released on the 21st, last year's overseas card spending by residents amounted to $18.9 billion, down 1.7% from $19.22 billion in 2018. This is the first annual decrease in overseas card spending compared to the previous year since 2009 (-20.9%).

The Bank of Korea explained, "The number of Korean nationals traveling abroad last year was 28.71 million, an increase of only 0.1% compared to the previous year," adding, "The growth in outbound travelers slowed, and factors such as the rise in the KRW-USD exchange rate led to a reduction in overseas card spending." The average annual KRW-USD exchange rate (transaction basis) also rose from 1,100.3 won in 2018 to 1,165.7 won in 2019.

In the fourth quarter of last year, overseas card spending was $4.813 billion, an increase from $4.736 billion in the previous quarter, but still a 0.4% decrease compared to the same period last year.

The number of cards used overseas was 68.414 million, up 7.2% from the previous year. The amount spent per card decreased by 8.3% to $276.

Last year, foreigners spent $9.919 billion using cards domestically, an increase of 6.8% from the previous year. Foreign tourists' card spending in Korea exceeded $10 billion from 2014 to 2016. It then declined due to China's retaliation over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system but has recently been recovering.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.