PLASTIC MONEY ON THE RISE IN BANGLADESH


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The local purchasers in Bangladesh are increasingly opting for cashless transactions and as a result the country has seen the utilization of plastic cash climbing up 5.5 percent in the third quarter of financial year 2014-15 as compared to the second quarter. The improvement is in accordance with the desires of policymakers, national bank authorities, as well as foreign specialists, every one of whom is bullish about the nation’s potential in advanced installments.

There is especially a huge potential in debit card segment and if everything keeps going right the country would be able to boast of about 4 crore debit card holders.

As per information from the central bank, there were 84.29 lakh credit, debit, and pre-paid card holders in the quarter ending in December 2014. Towards the end of the January-March quarter, this number has increased to 88.93 lakh. In the third quarter of fiscal 2014-15, the credit card holders spent Tk 1,432 crore through various transactions, debit card holders spent Tk 21,386 crore, and pre-paid card holders made Tk 59.8 crore worth of total transactions.  Internet banking and mobile banking transactions have also seen a significant increase with a rise of 35 percent and 22.36 percent respectively.