Koreans lost just 25 dollars per capita last year: Visa Card

Koreans lost just 25 U.S. dollars on average per capita last year, or 1/13th of that of the Japanese, who lost 337 dollars per person, Visa Card said Tuesday.

Visa announced the results of a survey on payment settlement patterns conducted on 5,641 people in 11 countries of the Asia-Pacific region, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa. According to the survey, people in the 11 countries lost on average 87 dollars per capita per year.

Among the countries surveyed, Indonesians lost the smallest amount with 21 dollars, followed by Koreans with 25 dollars. They were trailed by Singaporeans (31 dollars), South Africans (41 dollars), Thais (42 dollars) and Australians (57 dollars). The Japanese topped the survey with per capita loss of 337 dollars per year, showing that they are relatively less cautious in managing their money.

Koreans have a stronger tendency to immediately exchange leftover currency from their overseas trips. Koreans, Indonesians and Taiwanese have the least foreign currency that remained unused. Japanese set aside on average 12 dollars while Singaporeans store the largest amount of 625 dollars.

hanwshin@donga.com