Transactions thru credit cards drop 7.73%

Bangladeshi credit cardholders spent twice as much abroad as foreign nationals did within Bangladesh in September, according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB).

Bangladeshi nationals transacted Tk 436.8 crore outside the country using credit cards in September, a 4.52 percent increase from the Tk 417.9 crore spent in the preceding month, central bank data showed.

On the other hand, foreign nationals spent Tk 190.4 crore in Bangladesh through credit cards in September, a massive drop of 12.84 percent from Tk 218.4 crore in August.

Meanwhile, overall transactions through credit cards fell 7.73 percent to Tk 2,249.3 crore in September compared to the previous month's outlay of Tk 2,437.6 crore.

Md Mahiul Islam, head of retail banking at BRAC Bank, said most people were trying to make transactions through credit cards since there is still a major foreign exchange crisis.

"People are not able to take dollars from the bank now like they used to before as there is a limitation. So, spending through cards outside the country has increased," he said.

In the BB's analysis of country-wise transactions, it observed that credit cardholders used their cards mostly in neighboring country India, which accounted for 16.66 percent of total cross-border transactions.

Other major destinations included the USA, accounting for 15.90 percent of cross-border transactions, the UAE for 8.90 percent, and Thailand for 8.56. The UK accounted for 7.70 percent, Singapore for 7.36 percent, and Canada for 6.84 percent.

In terms of expenditure behaviour, 48.54 percent of total transactions were made to purchase commodities from departmental stores and 12.85 percent related to purchasing necessary items from retail outlet services.

Around 9.23 percent of the total was used to pay for utilities, 8.64 percent for cash withdrawals, 5.94 percent for medicine and 4.87 percent for clothing.

Of transactions done by Bangladeshis, 71.66 percent took place through VISA and 17.34 percent through Mastercard. AMEX was used for 10.74 percent of total transactions while the remaining transactions were through other types of cards.

Among foreign nationals in Bangladesh, US citizens spent the most through credit cards, accounting for 22.12 percent of total spending while Indians transacted 12.04 percent and UK nationals spent 11.83 percent.

The central bank observed that credit card transactions within the country went through ups and downs as usual, adding that cross-border transactions follow almost the same pattern.