Growth of South Koreans’ credit card spending decelerated in the first half from a year earlier mainly due to the local economy’s slowdown, a trade association said Thursday.

Purchases made with credit cards totaled 253.2 trillion won ($224.8 billion) in the January-June period, up 6.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the Credit Finance Association.

When adjusted for inflation, the increase rate was less than 6 percent, the association added. The figure lags behind 17.7 percent on-year growth tallied in the first six months of 2011.

The slowdown was attributed to the slumping economy and government measures to curb credit card firms’ excessive competition by setting ceilings on loan increases and marketing costs, CREFIA said.

Credit card users’ spending at large discount stores edged up following government regulations on their operating hours in an effort to support smaller retailers.

Spending on utility charges maintained solid growth as more people paid bills through credit cards.

Credit card transactions are also likely to grow at a slow pace in the second half as consumers are unnerved by economic uncertainties rising from the eurozone financial crisis, it said. (Yonhap News)