TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
BNI to cut lending rate next month
"State-owned lender PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) has announced plan to slash its lending rate by 25 basis points in February following the benchmark interest rate cut
Change Size
"State-owned lender PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) has announced plan to slash its lending rate by 25 basis points in February following the benchmark interest rate cut. (Kontan/Daniel Prabowo) (BNI) has announced plan to slash its lending rate by 25 basis points in February following the benchmark interest rate cut. (Kontan/Daniel Prabowo)
"State-owned lender PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) has announced plan to slash its lending rate by 25 basis points in February following the benchmark interest rate cut. (Kontan/Daniel Prabowo)
State-owned lender PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) will slash its lending rate by 25 basis points in February following Bank Indonesia's (BI) cut to the benchmark interest rate, said BNI president director Achmad Baiquni.
BI recently slashed its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 7.25 percent. Theoretically, all lenders should follow suit by cutting their lending rates. In reality, however, many of them keep up their rates to maintain profits despite public complaints.
"Following Bank Indonesia's interest rate cut, we have decided to cut our lending rate by 25 basis points in February, [beginning with] the retail sector first," Baiquni told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.
Currently, he said, the retail lending rate was between 12 and 13 percent. He expected that the decrease in the retail lending rate would boost disbursement in the segment. "We expect retail loan absorption will be faster than in previous periods." he said.
Baiquni said that for 2016, the state-owned lender had set a high loan growth target of 18 percent. The bank would focus on infrastructure, toll roads, oil-and-gas projects, telecommunications, construction projects and power plants, he added.
As for the segments, he said that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) would be a priority because SOEs absorbed most of the financing in infrastructure projects.
"The loan growth in 2015 was dominated by state-owned firms and it is our commitment to support strategic infrastructure projects," BNI director Rico Rizal Budidarmo said.
Last year, BNI hoped for 17.5 percent growth in loans. However, loans for the infrastructure sector grew above the bank's target, reaching 22.3 percent, or Rp 66.2 trillion (US$447 million). (ags)(+)
