The amount of credit card approvals surged sharply last month due to the Korea Black Friday sales event.

According to the Credit Finance Research Institute Wednesday, the amount of credit card approvals for the month of October stood at roughly 55-point-seven trillion won. That’s up more than 13 percent from the same period last year.

The number of credit card approvals jumped more than 15-point-five percent to reach around one-point-two billion.
 
The institute said the government’s policy on revitalizing the economy apparently led to recovery of private consumption. It added the Korea Black Friday sales event had a significant impact on breathing new life into consumption. The event ran for two weeks from October first.
 
The amount of debit card approvals last month grew nearly 18 percent year-on-year to eleven-point-six trillion won, breaking a previous record for the fourth straight month.