South Korea's credit card spending up 13.5% in 2012

An increase in employment and consumer prices increased South Korea's credit card.

It climbed 13.5 percent in 2012 from a year earlier.

Purchases made with credit cards totaled 520.9 trillion won (US$476 billion) last year, up 62.1 trillion won from the previous year, according to the Credit Finance Association (CREFIA).

The data includes spending on credit cards and debit and prepaid cards. Cash advances, overseas spending and card loans are not included.

The on-year gain came as the country's consumer prices grew 2.2 percentage points last year, and more people used credit cards as the number of jobs in South Korea increased 0.3 percent point over the cited period, CREFIA said.

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