Bangladesh Bank reports a 0.15% increase in credit card transactions within the country in January compared to December 2023. Customers spent Tk 26.78 billion, a slight rise from Tk 26.74 billion.
However, transactions outside the country saw a significant drop of 8.16%, totaling Tk 5.32 billion in January 2024, down from Tk 5.79 billion in December 2023.
Transactions within the country using foreign-issued credit cards also decreased by 1.35% to Tk 1.81 billion in January 2024.
Departmental stores witnessed an increase in credit card usage, rising to Tk 13.20 billion in January 2024 from Tk 13.09 billion in December 2023.
Retail outlet services also experienced a minor uptick during this period. On the flip side, transactions related to utilities decreased to Tk 2.28 billion in January 2024 from Tk 2.44 billion in December 2023.
Cash withdrawals decreased to Tk 2.07 billion in January 2024 from Tk 2.18 billion in the previous month.
Visa accounted for approximately 71.10% of credit card transactions, followed by Mastercard at 18.21% and American Express at 10.52%.
For transactions outside the country, departmental stores were the most common venues, constituting about 27.46% of transactions.
Credit cards issued by other countries but used in departmental stores within Bangladesh accounted for roughly 32.77% of all transactions in January 2024.
