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ublicly listed Bank Pembangunan Daerah Jawa Timur (Bank Jatim) is expecting to book an up to 20 percent increase in lending by year-end even though its gain in the first quarter was still below the target.

The lender, which mainly operates in East Java, reported a 13.5 percent increase in lending to Rp 18.8 trillion (US$1.93 billion) in the first quarter of the year compared to Rp 16.56 trillion in the same period last year. About 65 percent of total loans was disbursed to the consumer sector.

“We have Rp 26 trillion in undisbursed loans, mainly from syndicated loans for toll road and power plant projects. Therefore, we will maintain our target 20 percent growth in lending by year-end,” Bank Jatim president director Hadi Sukriyanto said on Wednesday.

The company’s net interest income rose 16.7 percent to Rp 547 billion in the first-three months of the year compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, fee-based income rose by 53 percent to Rp 111 billion in the first quarter versus Rp 72 billion year-on-year.

However, its profits only rose 3.5 percent to Rp 300.93 billion in the first quarter of the year from Rp 290.74 billion year-on-year. Hadi said the lower increase in profits was due to growing interest burden over increasing third-party funds.