January-April 2017, Credit Card Transactions Grew 3.7%

Credit card transaction value for the January-April 2017 period grew by 3.71 percent to Rp 95.42 trillion from the same period the previous year. Transaction volume grew by 10 percent to 107.44 million transactions. Meanwhile, the number of credit cards only grew by 4.53 percent, reaching 17.66 million units.

In 2016, the value of credit card transactions grew by a mere 0.17 percent to Rp 281 trillion from the previous year, while transaction volume grew by 8.43 percent to 305 million transactions. The number of credit cards reached 17.4 million units, a 3.3 percent increase from the previous year.

At the beginning of June 2017, the highest credit card interest rate will be lowered to 2.25 percent per month or 26.95 percent per year. This is lower than the current interest rate of 2.95 percent per month or 35.4 percent per year. Bank Indonesia took this step to boost domestic credit card transactions, which stagnated in 2016. Furthermore, this interest rate reduction will also increase consumer bill payments, ultimately helping to suppress problematic credit card debt.