Credit-card transaction trends in Bangladesh showed a noticeable decline in July across all categories as its economic activities were going through slowdown or sluggish movement.
In the analysis of credit- card transactions for July 2024, it is evident that domestic transactions within Bangladesh witnessed a significant decrease of 13.74 per cent, amounting to Tk 23.42 billion compared to Tk 27.15 billion in June 2024.
Concurrently, international transactions outside the country totalled Tk 4.75 billion in July 2024, showing a decrease of 9.45 per cent from Tk 5.24 billion in June 2024, according to a Bangladesh Bank (BB) report.
Similarly, transactions made with credit cards issued by foreign entities but utilised within Bangladesh decreased to Tk 1.36 billion in July 2024 from Tk 1.76 billion in June 2024, indicating a decrease of 23.02 per cent, it said.
Credit card spending in India also saw a significant decline in July this year compared to June, as per the central bank report.
Credit card transaction stood at Tk 921 million in 105,074 transactions in June whereas it reached Tk 732 million in 83,217 transactions, the report added.
The majority of credit card transactions occurred in the USA, accounting for 16.75 per cent. The rest of the cross-border transactions were distributed across various countries: India (15.41 per cent), Thailand (10.52 per cent), UK (8.29 per cent), Singapore (7.20 per cent), Canada (6.02 per cent), UAE (5.18 per cent), Malaysia (4.66 per cent), Saudi Arabia (4.18 per cent), Netherlands (2.91 per cent), Australia (2.88 per cent), Ireland (2.05 per cent) and other countries (13.96 per cent).
The BB is actively collecting extensive data on credit card transactions from 44 schedule banks and one non-banking financial company in Bangladesh.
Such transactions at the department stores saw a decrease to Tk 11.96 billion in July 2024 from Tk 13.93 billion in June 2024. Similarly, there were a decrease in retail outlet services, utilities, cash withdrawal, clothing, fund transfer, transportation, business and government services transactions.
On the other hand, transactions related to drug and pharmacies and professional services increased in July 2024 compared to that of previous month.
Analysing the credit card usage pattern, it reveals that a significant majority 72.24 per cent of the credit card transactions took place using VISA card, 17.74 per cent of transactions utilised Mastercard while 9.86 per cent of transactions were made with AMEX card. The remaining transactions occurred through other type of cards in July, 2024.
Credit cardholders engaging in cross-border transactions mostly utilised their cards abroad at department stores, accounting for 29.97 per cent of transactions. Other notable categories included retail outlet services (17.52 per cent), drug and pharmacies (12.92 per cent), transportation (9.77per cent), clothing (9.55 per cent), business services (6.64 per cent) and various other categories (14.62 per cent). The BB report also revealed that inward credit card usage witnessed a decrease in July 2024 compared to that of a preceding month.
Credit card issued by other countries but used within Bangladesh recorded maximum amount of transactions in transportation which was 31.44 per cent of all transactions in July 2024.
Additionally, department stores made up 28.85 per cent while transactions in cash withdrawals constituted 21.93 per cent. The remaining sectors collectively contributed 17.77 per cent to the total transactions.
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