"Decrease in Overseas Direct Purchases Due to Exchange Rate Rise"…Overseas Card Spending Drops 10.4%

Overseas Card Spending in Q1 Reaches 3.06 Billion Dollars

Earlier this year, as COVID-19 spread significantly and the won-dollar exchange rate surged, the amount spent by Koreans using cards overseas decreased by more than 10% compared to the previous quarter.

According to the Bank of Korea's announcement on the 31st, the overseas card usage amount (credit + check + debit) by residents in the first quarter of this year was $3.06 billion, down 10.4% from $3.42 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.

When converted using the annual average won-dollar exchange rate for the period (1,204.9 won per dollar), the amount is approximately 4.12 trillion won. Compared to the same period last year, when overseas travel sharply declined due to COVID-19, it increased by 19.6%.

In the first quarter, overseas card usage decreased across all types: credit cards (-6.0%), check cards (-20.3%), and debit cards (-33.9%). The number of cards used (-1.8%) and the amount spent per card (-8.8%) also declined compared to the previous quarter.

The Bank of Korea explained, "The decrease in performance is due to a reduction in the number of domestic travelers departing abroad caused by the resurgence of COVID-19 and a decline in overseas direct purchases through online shopping due to the rise in the won-dollar exchange rate."

According to the Bank of Korea, the won-dollar exchange rate (transaction standard rate, daily average) rose 1.8% from 1,183.2 won in the fourth quarter of last year to 1,204.9 won in the first quarter of this year. This means the value of the won depreciated accordingly.

Accordingly, the amount of overseas direct purchases through online shopping decreased by 10.8%, from $1.28 billion to $1.14 billion during the same period. Additionally, the number of domestic travelers departing abroad decreased by 1.5%, from 412,000 in the fourth quarter of last year to 406,000 in the first quarter of this year.

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