Credit disbursement almost breaks IDR2 quadrillion

JAKARTA: Banks' credit disbursement performance almost broke IDR2 quadrillion at end of June, growing by 23.5% from the same period last year.As bank credit in the first half of the year showed good performance, Bank Indonesia is optimistic that the bank business plan will complete the target of 24% growth, said central bank Governor Darmin Nasution.Credit has reached 23.5% year on year. The year-to-date number was not quite big, since the credit expansion last year was accelerated at end of year, in the third and fourth quarter, he said in Jakarta yesterday.Provided with the 23.5% growth, banks' credit at end of June expandedby IDR372.8 trillion to IDR1,959.3 trillion from IDR1,586.49 trillion in the same period last year.Compared to the performance at end of last year, banks' credit grew by 9.09%, or IDR163.3 trillion. Seeing growth target at 23.5%, or IDR422.06 trillion, the real performance in the first half this year was below half the projection.However, Darmin was optimistic that the growth target at 23% would be obtained because through the first quarter this year banks made positive move.Moreover, banks' credit expansion was supported by all economic sectors.Not only consumer segment, but also investment and working capital that contributed to credit expansion. This, according to Darmin, was different with the condition at beginning of the year with the domination of consumer segment.Some sectors, which used to have limited growth, is getting better. Micro, small and medium businesses also show quite good performance. There will be balance in investment credit, work capital and consumption if average growth is above 20%, he said.LiquidAbundant fund will surely support banks' credit performance, Darmin added. Provided with rapid flow of foreign investment, such liquidity tightening will never occur, said Darmin.As stated in Bank Indonesia's Monetary Policy Report in June, banks' credit growth in April was supported by working capital credit, with annual growth of 27.2%, which was relatively stable compared to that of the previous month at 27.1%.At the same time, consumer credit grew by 19.2%, slower than that of the previous month at 19.6%.Investment credit expansion grew by 24.8% (year on year), decreasing from 26.8% in the previous month.PT Bank Central Asia Tbk President Jahja Setiaatmadja thought that credit growth in the first half of the year was quite positive. However, the bank has not planned to revise up credit target although its half-year performance was already passed. (T04/NOM)