Credit card spending by foreign nationals hit a two-year low in the third quarter due to the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
 
According to credit card usage statistics released by the Bank of Korea Wednesday, foreign nationals spent two billion U.S. dollars in South Korea from July through September, a 26-point-six percent drop from the second quarter.
 
Compared with the same quarter a year earlier, it marked a 38-point-seven-percent fall.
 
The central bank attributed it to the sharp decline in the number of foreign tourists due to concerns over the deadly outbreak in May.  
 
The amount of money South Koreans spent overseas using credit cards, on the other hand, remained similar to the second quarter.