Bank Bali's profit drops slightly

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed Bank Bali announced yesterday a 10 percent drop in its net profit in the first half of this year, recording Rp 67.87 billion (about US$6 million) from Rp 75.87 billion in the same period of 1997.

According to the bank's unaudited financial statement for the January to June period this year, its deposits rose by more than 150 percent to Rp 13.80 trillion as of June, up from Rp 5.43 trillion in the same month of the previous year.

"The increase in the third party's deposits has prompted us to recruit some new employees, most of whom are from banks recently closed by the government," its president Rudy Ramli said in a statement.

Outstanding loans reached Rp 1.56 trillion, much lower than the Rp 5.85 trillion in the same period last year.

To anticipate an increase in nonperforming loans, Bank Bali had boosted its loan-loss provisions to Rp 802.81 billion in the first six months of this year, compared to Rp 100.70 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Total assets rose to Rp 21 trillion, over 8.96 trillion in the same period last year.

Bank Bali's capital adequacy ratio is 7.64 percent, higher than the minimum 4 percent required for the year's end.

It based its financial statement on a rupiah-dollar exchange rate of Rp 14,900, compared to the rate of Rp 2,450 in June last year. (aly)