Overseas card spending up 5.2% in Q2

Overseas card spending by South Koreans expanded more than 5 percent in the second quarter of 2016 despite a decline in the number of outbound travelers, central bank data showed Friday.

Their credit, check and debit card purchases abroad rose 5.2 percent on-quarter to $3.47 billion during the April-June period, according to the Bank of Korea.

It marks a 4.5-percent increase from the $3.32 billion recorded a year earlier.

The rise came in spite of a fall in the number of people traveling abroad. It dropped 8.8 percent on-quarter to 5.07 million in the three months ending on June 30.

Meanwhile, the amount of card spending by non-residents in South Korea came to $2.8 billion in the second quarter, up 2.9 percent on-year. (Yonhap)