South Korea’s credit card spending climbed 9.2 percent in October from a year earlier due to rising consumer prices and improved employment, a trade association said Tuesday.

Purchases made with credit cards totaled 43.6 trillion won ($40.6 billion) in October, up 3.7 trillion won from the previous year, according to the Credit Finance Association.

On the other hand, transactions made with plastics edged down 4.9 percent on-month in October, as local credit card spending surged temporally in September due to the Chuseok holiday.

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 2.1 percent in October, while more people used credit cards as the total number of jobs in South Korea increased 1.6 percent over the cited period, CREFIA said. (Yonhap News)