Credit card spending in dollars from Bangladesh drops 9.5% in Nov
Bangladeshi credit cardholders spent dollars about 2.5 times more than foreign nationals spent within Bangladesh in November
Spending on foreign transactions with Bangladeshi credit cards dropped significantly in November last year, down 9.51% from October.
According to the Bangladesh Bank, transactions made by Bangladeshi nationals outside the country totalled Tk487 crore worth dollars in November; it was Tk539 crore worth dollars in October.
Credit card transactions within Bangladesh by foreign nationals also decreased by 2.77% to Tk194 crore worth dollars in November from Tk199 crore worth dollars in October.
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Bangladeshi credit cardholders spent dollars about 2.5 times more than foreign nationals spent within Bangladesh in November.
Credit card transactions within the country declined by 2.18% month-on-month in November to Tk2,540 crore.
Analysing the breakdown of cross-border transactions by country, it has been found that the majority of credit card transactions occurred in India, accounting for approximately 17.87%. The rest of the cross-border transactions were distributed across various countries mainly in the USA (15.01%), UAE (8.49%), Thailand (8.28%) Singapore (7.10%), Canada (6.76%) and UK (6.71%).
These cardholders predominantly utilised their cards in departmental stores, accounting for approximately 28.08% of transactions abroad. Other notable categories included retail outlet services, drug and pharmacies, clothing, cash withdrawal and transportation.
In November 2023, the majority of transactions among foreign nationals were conducted by individuals holding credit cards issued by the USA, accounting for about 24.74% of the total transactions.
Other significant contributions were made by UK nationals (13.76%), individuals with cards from India (9.84%), Japan (3.92%), Canada (3.79%), Singapore (3.68%) and UAE (3.22%).
Experts say cardholders' transactions in foreign currencies have now become more expensive as the dollar price rises against the local currency taka. This discourages spending, especially on non-essential items.
According to banks, the dollar rate for cards has been hovering over Tk115 for the last several months, registering an increase in price by around 35% in less than two years.
