Home ›› 16 Nov 2022 ›› Front
Credit card transactions continue to fall in recent months as some cardholders are cutting down their spending while some are maxing out their limit amid dollar crisis.
In September, credit card transactions stood at Tk 2,282 crore, down from Tk 2,302 crore a month earlier, as per the latest data from the Bangladesh Bank.
Credit card transaction was at Tk 2,578 crore in July and it was highest at Tk 2,715 crore in April of this year.
Industry insiders said that now the country’s foreign exchange market is very unstable due to the USD shortage. Most of the banks are facing difficulties to settle import payments of emergency goods, they said.
The USD rate is the same for both cash and credit cards in banks. At present, the rate stands at Tk 107-108 for each dollar in credit card, which was below Tk 100 per USD a few months ago.
Mutual Trust Bank has 86,000 credit cards and three lakh debit cards. The total outstanding loans against the credit cards of MTB stood at Tk 380 crore.
The Bank Managing Director and CEO Syed Mahbubur Rahman said that most of the card holders have crossed their transaction limit due to the higher USD rate.
Bangladeshi nationals are allowed to spend a maximum of $12,000 per year outside of the country through credit cards or cash, as per the central bank regulations.
A high official of the City bank, seeking anonymity, told the Business Post that credit card transactions in the international segment are in a downtrend now due to the price rise of the USD.
Previously, the USD rate for credit card payment settlement was at Tk 94-95 per dollar but now it stands at Tk 107-108, as per the decision of the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA).
Now private commercial banks are not issuing cash dollars due to the shortage of American greenbacks. Travellers alleged that they are not getting cash even by visiting a number of branches of private banks.
Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL) has almost five lakh plastic cards including around two lakh credit cards. The bank is offering four products – Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, and Diners Club.
EBL Head of Digital Financial Services Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury said that credit card spending in the international segment has fallen because the US dollar rate for credit card payment is the same as the cash dollar selling rate.
Meanwhile, debit card transactions rose in September compared to August of this year. The transaction amount stood at Tk 34,355 crore in September, up from Tk 33,786 crore in August.
Now the total number of credit cards in the country stands at 20 lakh 37 thousand 598; debit cards at 2 crore 87 lakh 84 thousand 52 and prepaid cards at 30 lakh 99 thousand 201, as per the central bank data.
Industry insiders had feared that the credit card issuance rate will fall as the government has made it compulsory to submit a copy of an individual’s income tax return to enjoy 38 types of services, including applying for a credit card.
However, recently the government tax authority has relaxed rules regarding the requirement of tax return submission for micro and small businesses and students.
