The coronavirus pandemic triggered a decline in card spending by nearly 50 per cent in April, in an indication of a massive fall in demand in Bangladesh as people went for belt-tightening amid income collapses. Transactions through debit cards stood at Tk 8,336 crore in April, the first month that bore the full brunt of the coronavirus-induced shutdown, down 45 per cent from that a month ago, according to data from Bangladesh Bank. Credit card spending declined 54 per cent to Tk 523 crore. The record fall in transactions through debit and credit cards came about after people movement was restricted by the government in an effort to tackle the spread of the contagion. Almost all countries in the world adopted the same path to fight against the deadly flu, triggering a financial recession. With malls and shops closed, people tightened their belts in apprehension that the upcoming days might be harsher. Although the government has relaxed the shutdown since the beginning of June, card spending is yet to pick up as both local and global economies have been facing the financial meltdown due to the twists and turns of the pandemic. The fall in income levels put an adverse impact on consumption, forcing people to spend only on essentials items. “Card spending can be considered as an indicator to verify the demand in the economy,” said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the think-tank Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh. “We will judge the economic trend by analysing the indicators of card spending-related data. This will give a signal to us whether it will start to turn around from the ongoing meltdown,” he said. Card transactions would get back its tempo when the pandemic is tackled, said Mansur, also a former high official of International Monetary Fund. Syed Mohammad Kamal, country manager for Mastercard Bangladesh, gave a piece of good news. In June, card transactions rose by nearly 60 per cent compared to that in April as people are trying to return to a normal life, he said. The digital cattle market targeting the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha will give a further boost to the transactions, he said. However, the digital market has still a long way to go before returning to normalcy and beginning to enjoy pre-Covid-19 level growth. The card market will have to fight to a great extent to move to the next stage as it will not be easy to enhance the confidence of the people during the pandemic. People from middle and higher-income groups have still been shying away from the shopping markets, hitting the sales of lifestyle products, Kamal said. “We do not know when the international hotels and tourism will make a comeback. Card spending will not pick up until the industry reopens fully.” There has been also a good sign that e-commerce transactions have recently widened its sphere as people continue to opt the service to avoid the contagion, he said. Banks used to issue 15,000 to 17,000 credit cards every month before the virus arrived on the shores of Bangladesh. In April, it stood at just 694 cards, BB data showed. The release of debit cards faced the same consequence in the month: lenders issued 77,664 debit cards against the monthly average 300,000-350,000 previously. Dutch-Bangla Bank, one of the largest debit card issuers in the country, saw a card transaction of Tk 5,000 crore in April through its vast network of automated teller machines against the average monthly transaction of Tk 8,000 crore, said its managing director, Abul Kashem Md Shirin. The private commercial bank faced a lower transaction of Tk 75 crore in April on point-of-sale (POS) terminals against the average monthly transaction of Tk 250 crore. Card transactions through POS, however, advanced to Tk 150 crore in June. Shirin went on to express the hope that card spending might regain previous levels by September. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, earnings of 51 per cent of households plunged to zero while a massive 95 per cent of people suffered losses in income, according to a survey of Brac. Around 62 per cent of low-income wage earners lost their work opportunities after the public holiday was declared in late March, it showed.
