Spending on foreign transactions using Bangladeshi credit cards experienced a notable drop of 9.51% in November compared to October, according to the Bangladesh Bank. Bangladeshi nationals spent Tk487 crore worth of dollars abroad in November 2023, down from Tk539 crore in October. Similarly, credit card transactions within Bangladesh by foreign nationals also decreased by 2.77% to Tk194 crore worth of dollars.
Bangladeshi credit cardholders outspent foreign nationals by 2.5 times in November, with credit card transactions within the country declining by 2.18% month-on-month to Tk2,540 crore. India accounted for the majority of cross-border credit card transactions, followed by the USA, UAE, Thailand, Singapore, Canada, and the UK. Experts attribute the decline in transactions to the rising dollar price against the local currency, discouraging spending on non-essential items.