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Major Indonesian banks hit loan brake after last year's frenzy
With uncertainty still surrounding the course of the global economy this year, Indonesia's major lenders are erring on the side of caution with their 2023 loan targets.
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The Bank Mandiri towers in South Jakarta are seen in this stock illustration. The country’s major lenders, which include Bank Mandiri, have announced conservative loan growth targets for 2023. (Courtesy of Bank Mandiri)
T
hree of Indonesia’s four largest banks have revealed modest goals for loan growth this year, despite surpassing their 2022 targets amid a difficult global environment and against a backdrop of solid economic growth projections.
The banks expect their loan portfolios to grow between 10 and 12 percent this year, matching the industry-wide forecast announced by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) on Monday as well as a December projection from Bank Indonesia (BI).
Last year, state-owned lender Bank Mandiri recorded 14.5 percent growth in loan disbursements, handily beating its 11 percent target. Meanwhile, fellow state-owned lender BNI and leading private lender BCA both exceeded their individual targets of 10 percent to achieve loan growth of respectively 11.7 percent and 10.9 percent.
BRI, another state-owned lender, has yet to publish its full-year financial performance, which is typically accompanied with an announcement of its current-year targets.
On Monday, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced that the country’s gross domestic product grew 5.31 percent last year, the highest rate since 2013.
Read also: Indonesia’s GDP growth reaches nine-year high
Moch. Amin Nurdin, a senior faculty member at the Indonesian Banking Development Institute (LPPI), told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that banks could be avoiding optimistic targets based on predictions from several analysts that a global economic crisis could hit the country this year.
