Credit Card Spending Shrivels
30 April, 2020
Credit card spending declined 4.3 percent last month as a result of coronavirus epidemic, the Credit Finance Association said Tuesday.
This is the first-time ever that credit card spending has declined since relevant statistics started in 2005.
Credit card consumption increased 5.8 percent in January and 6.5 percent in February, in the first phase of the epidemic here. Nonetheless it started to slow last month, when the virus spread like wildfire in Daegu.
A staffer at the association said, "Credit card spending rose steadily even through the 2008 global financial crisis. This is unusual."
By industry, credit card shelling out for travel, which include transportation, plunged 39.9 percent, while hospitality saw a 36.7 percent decline. Shelling out for wholesale and retail rose 5.5 percent overall but declined for offline retailers like superstores as more people ordered goods online.
Source: english.chosun.com