BCA's profit up 121%

JAKARTA (JP): The first half net profit of publicly listed Bank Central Asia (BCA) rose by 121 percent to hit Rp 1.103 trillion (about US$129.76 million) from Rp 497.11 billion a year earlier, the bank said on Wednesday.

BCA said in a statement that its first half net interest earnings surged to Rp 2.23 trillion from only Rp 758 billion.

It attributed the gain on lower interest costs during the same period, which fell to Rp 4.13 trillion from Rp 4.3 trillion.

BCA enjoys favorable interest rates from owning recapitalization bonds tied to Bank Indonesia's interest rates.

The central bank has kept its rates high since early this year to curb pressure on the rupiah and inflation.

Meanwhile, BCA's capital adequacy ratio (CAR), as of June 30, fell slightly to 34.34 percent as against 36.03 percent in the same period last year.(bkm)