6.83pc decrease in April transactions

Credit-card transactions within Bangladesh witnessed a decrease of 6.83 per cent in April 2024 than the previous month's, according to the central bank.
Total domestic transactions stood at more than Tk 27.83 billion in April compared to Tk 29.87 billion in March.
Concurrently, transactions made with credit cards issued by foreign entities but utilised within Bangladesh declined by 12.18 per cent during the period in question, showed the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data.
Total credit-card transactions issued by foreign entities reached more than Tk 1.99 billion in April from over Tk 2.26 billion in March.
On the other hand, international transactions outside Bangladesh totalled Tk 5.06 billion in April, showing a 0.68 per cent rise from Tk 5.03 billion in March, revealed the central bank.
In terms of amount, Bangladeshi cardholders did an estimated 2.55 times more transactions outside the country than that of foreign nationals did within Bangladesh in April.
Regarding the country-wise breakdown of cross-border transactions, the BB data revealed that a majority of credit-card transactions occurred in India, accounting for an estimated 19.31 per cent.
The remaining transactions were made in the USA (13.12 per cent), Thailand (9.19 per cent), the UAE (7.96 per cent), Saudi Arabia (7.29 per cent), Singapore (7.03 per cent), the UK (6.27 per cent), Canada (4.91 per cent), Malaysia (4.04 per cent), the Netherlands (2.54 per cent), Australia (2.53 per cent), Ireland (2.32 per cent) and other countries (13.48 per cent).
In Bangladesh, 57.85 per cent of the transactions were conducted using VISA cards, while 40.23 per cent were executed using MasterCard issued by foreign entities.
As for April transactions by foreign nationals, the majority were conducted with credit cards issued by the USA, accounting for 26.27 per cent of the total.
Significant contributions came from the UK (10.69 per cent), India (8.56 per cent), Canada (4.14 per cent), Singapore (3.88 per cent), the UAE (3.85 per cent), Australia (3.52 per cent) and Estonia (3.21 per cent).
Other notable contributions included Japan (2.94 per cent), Saudi Arabia (2.35 per cent), China (2.27 per cent), Germany (2.11 per cent) and South Korea (1.84 per cent).
Data showed several other countries collectively made up 24.38 per cent of the transactions, reflecting the global diversity of financial activity.
The holders of credit cards were cautious in using their cards due to the current macro-economic situation, noted Zafar Alam, managing director and CEO of Social Islami Bank Limited.
He hinted that existing inflationary pressure might lead to fewer credit transactions in April, even though people were celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr in that month.
Mr Alam, however, said the number of credit card users was increasing steadily.
Once the inflationary pressure eases and overall macro-economic situation stabilises, he thinks, credit-card usage will rise again in the coming days.

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