BI to close on extended holiday, banks yet to decide
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Bank Indonesia will close its offices, suspend transactions and reschedule some operations to comply with a government instruction extending the Idul Fitri holiday by three more working days, the central bank announced on Thursday.
Following a recently issued ministerial decree, Bank Indonesia will close its offices for five working days, from Thursday, Dec. 5, through Tuesday, Dec. 10, the next week. Idul Fitri falls on Friday, Dec. 6, and Saturday, Dec. 7.
The closure will result in the suspension of central bank services, such as cash transactions, interbank foreign exchange transactions, and the setting of foreign currency transfer and banknote rates.
Bank Indonesia will change its clearing schedules for Dec. 4, and move forward Wednesday's weekly auction of its promissory notes to Tuesday, Dec. 3.
In its announcement posted on its website on Thursday, Bank Indonesia said it would have resumed most of its operations by Dec. 11.
The changes were made in response to a ministerial decree issued last Monday that extended the Idul Fitri and Christmas holidays to boost domestic tourism following last month's Bali bombings.
While the decree applies only to civil servants, the government has encouraged the private sector to follow suit. The Bank Indonesia shutdown, however, means that banks will likely have to follow suit, as will businesses that rely on daily banking services.
State-owned Bank Mandiri, the country's biggest bank in terms of assets, said it would close its offices for an extra day, making a total of six working days from Dec. 5 to Dec. 12.
Bank Mandiri spokesman Soeswidijono said the bank's approximately six million customers would still be able to carry out basic banking transactions through its ATM outlets.
"Our customer services will be available online 24-hours a day and we will ensure that all our ATMs are working well," he said.
Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Lippo and Bank Niaga, when contacted, said their managements had yet to respond to Bank Indonesia's holiday schedule.