Credit card use slightly down

Credit cardholders spent around 3.40 percent less in November last year compared to that in the preceding month, according to the Bangladesh Bank.

The transactions through credit cards both at home and abroad dipped to Tk 3,221.1 crore in November from Tk 3,334.3 crore in October last year.

There have been fluctuations in spending patterns within and outside the country, said the central bank.

The domestic transactions decreased by 2.18 percent to Tk 2,539.9 crore.

Parallelly, the transactions abroad dropped 9.51 percent to Tk 487.4 crore.

There was no specific big reason behind the fall, said Md Mahiul Islam, head of retail banking at BRAC Bank.

Cardholders spent less in November amidst economic uncertainties alongside the political ones ahead of the national parliamentary election, which was held on January 7 this year, he said.

"I hope that credit card spending will grow again the days to come," Islam added.

Meanwhile, transactions in Bangladesh using credit cards issued by foreign banks not present here fell 2.77 percent to Tk 193.8 crore.

Analysis of domestic spending patterns for different sectors shows that those at department stores fell by 49.57 percent to Tk 1,258.9 crore.

This accounted for 50.73 percent of the credit card transactions inside the country.

Spending at the smaller retail outlets noted a slight increase, 12.04 percent, to Tk 333.1 crore.

Transactions related to utilities experienced a decline of 9.02 percent to Tk 230.2 crore.

Transactions under drug and pharmacies category declined to Tk 130.8 crore from Tk 142.3 crore while clothing category to Tk 120.4 crore from Tk 132.9 crore.

A significant portion, or around 72.29 percent, of the credit card transactions took place using VISA cards while around 17.65 percent using Mastercard.

Besides, about 9.82 percent of transactions were made with American Express cards.

Cross-border transactions patterns showed that the highest amount of credit card transactions took place in India, accounting for approximately 17.87 percent.

The other places include the US (15.01 percent), the UAE (8.49 percent), Thailand (8.28 percent), Singapore (7.10 percent), Canada (6.76 percent), the UK (6.71 percent), and Saudi Arabia (4.82 percent).

As per the spending pattern of foreign credit cardholders in Bangladesh, the maximum amount of transactions, which was roughly 34.63 percent, were in department stores.

Additionally, cash withdrawals by foreigners accounted approximately 23.52 percent while spending for transportation stood at 15.41 percent.