Departmental stores were the primary destination for credit card transactions, accounting for 49.61 per cent of transactions in February, according to a Bangladesh Bank report.

Apart from departmental stores, about 12.9 per cent took place in retail outlets, 8.81 per cent in utilities, 7.34 per cent in cash withdrawal, 5.86 per cent in clothing and 5.26 per cent in drug and pharmacies.

About 27.46 per cent of the transactions made outside the country took place in departmental stores.

Additionally, VISA cards were the most commonly used, representing 71.55 per cent of transactions, followed by MasterCard at 17.73 per cent and the remaining transactions took place through using other types of cards in February.

In terms of cross-border transactions, India accounted for 21.72 per cent, Thailand 12.23 per cent, the United States 12.2 per cent, the United Arab Emirates 10.59 per cent, Singapore 6.83 per cent, the United Kingdom 5.93 per cent and Saudi Arabia 4.71 per cent.

In February, credit card transactions within Bangladesh by foreign nationals witnessed an increase.

Of the transactions by foreign nationals, about 26.65 per cent of the transactions took place using credit cards issued by the US, followed by the UK 13.56 per cent, India 9.86 per cent, Japan 4.21 per cent, Canada 4.15 per cent, Singapore 3.46 per cent, Australia 3.3 per cent and the UAE 2.9 per cent.

The BB report said the use of credit cards by Bangladeshi nationals both domestically and internationally saw a decline in February compared with that in the previous month.

Credit card transactions within the country decreased by 4.49 per cent in February compared with those of the previous month.

The amount was Tk 2,558 crore in February compared with that of Tk 2,678 crore in January and Tk 2,674 crore in December 2023.

Credit card transactions by Bangladeshi nationals outside the country dropped to Tk 499 crore in February, which was Tk 532 crore in January and Tk 579 crore in December 2023.

However, there was a 32-per cent increase in transactions through credit cards issued by foreign entities but used within Bangladesh, rising to Tk 240 crore in February from Tk 181 crore in January.

Such transaction was Tk 181 crore in December 2023.