Credit card use dips in July

Money spent through credit cards fell by 2.96 percent in July compared to the previous month, showed data from the Bangladesh Bank (BB).

Credit card transactions inside the country stood at Tk 23,419 million in July compared to Tk 24,133 million a month earlier, the central bank's data showed.

Source: Bangladesh Bank

Meanwhile, transactions through credit cards used outside the country saw a significant increase, growing 31.81 percent compared to June, when the amount was Tk 3,883 million.

Transactions through credit cards used within Bangladesh by foreign nationals decreased by 2.11 percent to Tk 1,914 million in July from Tk 1,955 million in June.

Source: Bangladesh Bank

Md Mahiul Islam, head of retail banking at BRAC Bank, said transactions had slightly fallen due to seasonal trends.

Cardholders spent comparatively higher in June as they purchased additional items ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, he said. "So, there was no major reason behind the fall," he added.

In an analysis of its data on monthly transactions through credit cards, the central bank said that Bangladeshi credit cardholders outside the country had spent around 2.67 times the amount that foreign nationals had spent within Bangladesh through credit cards in July.

BB data also showed that cardholders had mostly used credit cards in departmental stores in July.

About 50.11 percent of credit card transactions were made in departmental stores, 13.47 percent in retail outlet services and 9.20 percent in utilities.

Another 7.43 percent of credit card transactions were for cash withdrawals, 5.44 percent for buying drugs, 4.38 per cent for clothing, 3.31 percent for transportation, 3.17 percent for fund transfers, 2.33 percent for business services and 1.17 percent for other purposes.

Source: Bangladesh Bank

Central bank data also showed that 73.45 percent of credit card transactions used VISA cards and 16.20 percent of transactions were made using MasterCard in July.