The overseas payment through credit, debit and check cards by local residents amounted to 12.23 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up 18.6 percent from the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The figure almost halved to 10.31 billion dollars in 2020 from 19.12 billion dollars a year earlier amid the sharp fall in overseas trips, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of locals going abroad tumbled from 4.28 million in 2020 to 1.22 million in 2021, but the online direct purchase in the global market went up rapidly, the BOK noted.
The online direct purchase outside South Korea reached 4.49 billion dollars in 2021, up 29.7 percent from the prior year.
The number of plastic cards used for overseas purchases was 46,443,000 in 2021, down 5.8 percent from a year ago.
The average amount of overseas spending per plastic card gained from 209 dollars in 2020 to 263 dollars in 2021.
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