Bangladeshis spent Tk 484 crore through credit cards abroad in May this year, and the highest volume of such transactions – Tk 82.4 crore or 17 per cent – took place in India, according to a latest Bangladesh Bank report on credit card spending.
USA holds the second position with Tk 71.5 crore in credit card transactions by Bangladeshis, followed by Saudi Arabia with Tk 63.7 crore, Thailand with Tk 40.2 crore, the UAE with Tk 36.7 crore, Singapore with Tk 30.5 crore, UK with Tk 28.2 crore, and Canada Tk 23.2 crore.
Besides, Bangladeshis spent Tk 17.4 crore through credit cards in Malaysia, Tk 14 crore in Netherlands, Tk 11.1 crore in Australia, Tk 10.4 crore in Ireland and Tk 55.4 crore in other countries.
Released on Sunday, a report titled “An Overview of Credit Card Users Spending Pattern Within and Outside the Country” mentions that 43 scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in the country are currently issuing cards to the clients of 61 banks and 35 NBFIs.
Overseas credit card expenditure of Bangladeshis was Tk 368.4 crore in April this year. The report indicates that transactions using credit cards issued by banks and NBFIs in Bangladesh are going up sharply.
Meanwhile, spending by foreigners within Bangladesh through credit cards issued by banks or NBFIs of other countries stood at Tk 210.1 crore in May.
Spending categories
In cross-border transactions, Bangladeshis mostly used their credit cards in departmental stores, which are 41.06 per cent of the total transactions that took place outside the country, according to the central bank report.
Of the rest, cardholders spent 14.77 per cent on medicines, 11.53 per cent on clothing, 8.38 per cent for transportation, 7.61 per cent for cash withdrawal, 5.32 per cent on business services, and 5.32 per cent on professional services.
The rest was for government services, utilities, contractual services and agriculture.
For transactions abroad, Bangladeshi cardholders used VISA for 77.35 per cent of the total spending and MasterCard for 13.48 per cent. The rest was spent through AMEX, Diners, UnionPay and JCB credit cards.
Card usage by foreigners
In May this year, among all the foreign nationals, US citizens carried out the highest amount of transactions in Bangladesh through credit cards, shows the central bank report.
Citizens of UK spent 11.41 per cent through credit cards, India 10.21 per cent, Singapore 3.97 per cent, Canada 3.86 per cent, Hong Kong 3.64 per cent, Australia 3.45 per cent, Japan 3.39 per cent, China 3.05 per cent, UAE 2.82 per cent, South Korea 2.21 per cent, Germany 2.11 per cent, Saudi Arabia 1.68 per cent and other countries 22.72 per cent.
