Overseas card spending down 14.8% in Q3 on weak won

A consumer paying bills with a credit card. (Yonhap News TV)

South Koreans' overseas card spending declined 14.8 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier as the government tightened rules on withdrawals of money from automatic teller machines and the won depreciated against the dollar, central bank data showed Tuesday.

According to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK), the amount of money spent overseas by South Koreans with cards, including credit and debit cards, came to $2.88 billion in the July-September period, down from $3.37 billion tallied in the second quarter.

The on-quarter decline stemmed from tightened rules on overseas ATM withdrawals aimed at curbing illegal foreign currency transactions linked to cyber assets and the won's descent against the dollar, the BOK said.

Compared with a year earlier, however, the amount jumped 32.7 percent in the third quarter as countries eased antivirus restrictions on traveling. The increase still slowed from an 80 percent on-year rise in the second quarter. (Yonhap)