State-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) is working intensively to disburse loans for micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), mostly through its micro credit (KUR) program, BRI president director Asmawi Syam said on Wednesday.

Up to March 21, BRI has already fulfilled 30 percent of the KUR target, with a disbursement of Rp 20.7 trillion (US$1.57 billion) in loans from the 2016 target of Rp 67.5 trillion, he added.

"We believe our target will be reached before December. This is due to the adoption of the latest technology and recruiting more officers who have backgrounds as market traders," Asmawi said.

Currently, BRI has a total SME and Micro Lending amount of Rp 160 trillion, around 12.5 percent for the KUR program. BRI is keeping the loan to deposit ratio relatively high, around 90 percent. Far above the government's minimal requirement of 78 percent.

"We are keeping it at the level of 90 percent. Recently, Bank Indonesia (BI) cut the reserve requirement from 7.5 to 6.5 percent then we obtained an additional Rp 5.5 trillion cash," BRI finance director Haru Koesoemahargyo told thejakartapost.com.

With the one percent decrease in the reserve requirement, banks could withdraw additional reserves from BI. The central bank'€™s Rp 5.5 trillion reserve withdraw helped BRI access additional cash to disburse more loans. (bbn)(+)

Popular

Yearender: Civil movements take center stage in 2025

Another year lost in the energy transition

Let hope overcome fear