Credit card use by foreigners surges

Staff Correspondent: Transaction through credit cards issued by other countries and used in Bangladesh also increased by 23% to Tk210.1 crore in May compared with that of Tk170.4 crore in April
The use of credit cards by Bangladeshis outside the country and by foreign nationals in Bangladesh increased in May compared to that in the previous month.
According to a Bangladesh Bank report, credit card transactions by Bangladeshi nationals outside the country amounted to Tk484.7 crore in May, which was 31.57% higher than that of Tk368.4 crore in April.
Transaction through credit cards issued by other countries and used in Bangladesh also increased by 23% to Tk210.1 crore in May compared with that of Tk170.4 crore in April, the data showed.
Bankers attributed this spike to the Hajj pilgrimage as many Bangladeshis used credit cards to take care of their expenses in Saudi Arabia.
However, credit card transactions within the country decreased by 6.34% in May compared with those of the previous month.
The amount was Tk2,369 crore in May while it was Tk2,529 crore in April.
The central bank in its study found that the cardholders mostly used credit cards in departmental stores.
In May, about 58.13% of credit card transactions took place in departmental stores, while about 13.70% took place in fund transfer, 7.53% in cash withdrawal, 7.35% in utilities, 4.51% in drug and pharmacies and 3.51% in clothing.
About 41.06% of the transactions made outside the country took place in departmental stores.
About 72.65% of the credit card transactions took place using VISA cards and about 16.40% of the transactions took place using MasterCard and the remaining transactions took place through using other types of cards in May 2023.
The Bangladesh Bank study also found that the credit cardholders used their cards mostly in neighbouring country India.
About 17.01% of cross-border transactions took place in India, followed by the United States 14.76%, Saudi Arabia 13.14%, Thailand 8.29%, the United Arab Emirates 7.57%, Singapore 6.29% and the United Kingdom 5.82%.
In May 2023, credit card transactions within Bangladesh by foreign nationals also witnessed an increase.
Of the transactions by foreign nationals, about 25.47% of the transactions took place using credit cards issued by the US, followed by the UK 11.41%, India 10.21%, Singapore 3.97%, Canada 3.86%, Hong Kong 3.64%, Australia 3.45%, Japan 3.39% and China 3.05%.