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BRI books 10 percent of its micro loans annual target in January
Publicly listed Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) says it has achieved about 10 percent of micro loans (KUR) target in January alone, with more sectors applying for the loans
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ublicly listed Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) says it has achieved about 10 percent of micro loans (KUR) target in January alone, with more sectors applying for the loans.
The more diversified sectors applying for the loans have led the state lender, which focuses its business on micro loans, to ensure its micro-loan segment continuously surpasses the government's appointed target for the program, it says.
'As of January, we had channeled Rp 1.9 trillion [US$157.7 billion] loans for 154,000 KUR customers,' BRI corporate secretary Muhammad Ali said on Thursday.
The figure represented 9.5 percent out of the Rp 20 trillion target set by the government for the major lender for the whole year, and was 5.56 percent up compared to the Rp 1.8 trillion micro loans channeled in the same period last year, he explained to The Jakarta Post.
Ali said the bank had channeled bigger KUR loans than the government's target since 2010, citing the Rp 27.7 trillion micro loans it booked last year. That was 45.79 percent above the government's target of Rp 19 trillion.
The 2013 channeled KUR figure was about 40 percent higher than the Rp 19.8 trillion recorded the previous year, during which the government had set a target of Rp 15 trillion.
The micro-loan program reached Rp 9.1 trillion and Rp 16.8 trillion in 2010 and 2011 respectively, above the government targets of Rp 6.2 trillion and Rp 10 trillion, also in 2011 and 2011, respectively.
The bank has estimated that its outstanding KUR will reach Rp 32 trillion and the number of KUR customers will exceed 12 million this year, with the election year projected to benefit micro-, small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs).
BRI's KUR is part of the government's KUR program, which gives SMEs access to financing at a fixed interest rate in an attempt to boost the economy.
Ali said BRI's KUR customers had nearly tripled from 3.7 million debtors in 2010 to 9.7 million debtors in 2013.
He said the bank had distributed KUR more evenly in the last four years, not only to the trade sector.
Out of the total KUR in 2013, 65 percent was channeled to the trade sector, 16 percent to the agricultural sector and 6 percent to the services sector.
For comparison, Ali said, the trade sector had contributed 76 percent to KUR in 2010, while the agricultural and services sectors contributed only 10 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
'Despite the fact that KUR costumers are often seen as novice entrepreneurs working on sectors that are not bankable, many of them have leveled up from micro to commercial debtors as they now have fixed assets,' he said.
He added that there were about 850,000 KUR customers with total loans of Rp 13.6 trillion 'leveling up' to commercial debtors in 2013.
In addition to BRI, six other banks participating in the program are Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), Bank Syariah Mandiri, Bukopin and BNI Syariah.
BRI is eyeing net-profit growth of up to 12 percent this year to Rp 23.7 trillion on the back of the growing micro-loan sector.
BRI's lending to the micro sector totaled Rp 132.1 trillion last year, increasing by 23.7 percent year-on-year from Rp 106.8 trillion in 2012. As of December 2013, the number of BRI's micro debtors reached 6.5 million.
BRI's shares, traded on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) under the code BBRI, closed at Rp 8,700 apiece on Thursday, 0.29 percent higher than the previous close.
