April Card Approval Amount Increases 15.3%... V-Shaped Recovery Signal

Online Card Approval Amount Also Rises 28.9% Year-on-Year

On the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the 11th, citizens are shopping at Yeongcheon Market in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. The government has imposed a ban on private gatherings of five or more people from today until the 14th to prevent the domestic resurgence of COVID-19. Even immediate family members cannot gather in groups of five or more if they have different addresses, and fines will be imposed for violations. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Last month, the amount of card approvals increased by more than 15% compared to the previous year. With double-digit growth rates recorded for two consecutive months, a green light seems to be turning on for a V-shaped rebound.

According to an analysis of data from eight major credit card companies by the office of Park Kwang-on, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 23rd, the card approval amount in April was 62.6225 trillion KRW. This is a 15.3% increase from one year ago (54.3178 trillion KRW).

The card approval amount rose for three consecutive months compared to the same period last year, starting from February (7.7%), with double-digit growth rates recorded for two consecutive months following March (18.2%). This is due to a combination of revenge spending and the base effect from one year ago.

Compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the card approval amounts showed a strong upward trend with January (+1.3%), February (+13.4%), March (+12.0%), and April (+9.6%), clearly indicating a V-shaped recovery.

Among the total card approval amount last month, offline usage amounted to 45.7833 trillion KRW, which is an 11.0% increase from one year ago.

This marks three consecutive months of growth following 2.9% in February and 16.2% in March.

Offline card approval amounts had decreased by as much as -11.2% in March last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, during the resurgence of COVID-19 in December (-11.0%) and January this year (-10.8%), double-digit declines were observed, but the figures have rebounded since February.

With the expansion of the non-face-to-face economy, online card approval amounts recorded 16.8392 trillion KRW, a 28.9% increase compared to the previous year.

As consumption revives, the government also holds high expectations for a strong economic recovery. Hong Nam-ki, Acting Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister for Economy, previously expressed confidence, stating, "We will move toward growth in the mid-to-high 3% range this year."

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