Koreans' overseas card spending slows down in Q1

Overseas card spending by South Koreans slowed down in the first three months of the year amid the weakening won against the U.S. dollar, industry data showed Sunday.

The total amount of card purchases made outside of the country reached $3.3 billion over the January-March period, up 2.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Credit Finance Association.

The on-year gain slowed sharply from a 13.8 percent jump tallied in the same period last year.

The association attributed the slowdown to a depreciation of the local currency against the U.S. greenback as the won-dollar exchange rate stood at an average 1,201 won to the dollar as of end-March, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier.

The stronger U.S. dollar dragged down card purchases made in America by 7.3 percent on-year over the three-month period, while card spending in Japan soared 31 percent on-year on the back of a weaker yen. (Yonhap)