SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Debit card usage in South Korea rose in the first half of this year as tax credit from the usage doubled the one from credit card usage, central bank data showed Wednesday.
The daily average settlement with debit card amounted to 491 billion won (439.5 million U.S. dollars) in the January-June period, up 7.1 percent from the same period of last year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The debit card usage kept rising as the government encouraged people to use debit card by offering earned income deduction to debit card users twice larger than credit card users.
Settlement with credit card can boost purchase on credit, increasing household debts. Debit card can be used only within the bank account balance.
The daily average settlement with credit card grew 3.7 percent from a year earlier to 1.83 trillion won (1.64 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half.
The number of debit card issued as of end-June was 129 million. It was up 1.8 percent from six months earlier. The number of credit card increased 2.8 percent to 102 million in the same period.
