South Korea's credit card spending grew at a slower pace in January than a year earlier due to a seasonal effect amid sluggish domestic consumption, data showed Thursday.
Purchases made with credit cards reached 48.4 trillion won ($44.1 billion) last month, growing an 11-month low of 3.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Credit Finance Association.
The January figure also marks a slowdown from a 9 percent on-year jump a year ago.
The data includes transactions on credit, debit and prepaid cards, with cash advances, overseas spending and card loans excluded.
The association said that the January slowdown was partly caused by a drop in consumption as the Lunar New Year holiday fell in mid-February this year. In 2014, the holiday was in January.
Purchases made at retail businesses, including department stores and outlets, dropped 8.6 percent on-year.
The data also showed that the use of debit cards jumped 11.9 percent on-year, accounting for 19.9 percent of the total card purchases in January, while credit card purchases edged up only 1.2 percent.
In 2014, credit card spending totaled 578.6 trillion won in South Korea, up 6.1 percent from 545 trillion won a year earlier. (Yonhap)
