New Loan Disbursement Only Reaches US$167 M

VIVAnews - The amount of third-party fund in national banking up until the third week of March of 2009 increased by Rp 57.6 trillion (US$4.8 billion) to Rp 1,710.1 trillion (US$142.8 billion). Meanwhile, credit disbursement was still low with Rp 2 trillion (US$167.09 million).

According to Head of Financial System Stability Bureau at Bank Indonesia, Wimboh Santoso, the low sum of credit disbursed between January and February was not the yardstick of credit growth. The growth in the beginning of the year has always been lower.

Bank Indonesia will observe credit growth in April and May. If the months record no growth, then it should be examined further.

BI, he said, has detected the signals of credit growth due to stimulation acceleration, regulation dispensation, and interest rate decrease.

It is estimated that this year's credit growth will reach between 18 and 20 percent. It is in line with the assumed economic growth of between four and five percent. Nonetheless, based on banks' business plan, this year's credit growth will be by 15.6 percent.

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Translated by: Bonardo Maulana Wahono