BRI to disburse Rp 500b rice credits

BRI to disburse Rp 500b rice credits

JAKARTA (JP): State-run Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) promised
on Friday to begin disbursing Rp 500 billion (US$66.6 million) in
credits to village cooperatives on Monday to help them buy
unhusked rice from farmers, Antara reported.

The special credit scheme will be made available to
cooperatives in areas that are still harvesting, BRI president
Djoko Santoso Mulyono said after meeting National Logistics
Agency (Bulog) chairman Rizal Ramli on Friday.

BRI has been accused of complicating the disbursement of the
government credits that should have been distributed at the end
of March.

Bulog, administrator of the cooperatives, threatened earlier
to take its account elsewhere because of the delays.

Prices of unhusked rice have plunged to a low of Rp 700 per
kilogram, compared to a government-target floor price of Rp
1,020, because the cooperatives did not have enough money to
absorb the huge surplus.

Rizal said that with the BRI money becoming available, the
price should rise to Rp 1,000 per kilograms.

Bulog has also secured Rp 2.8 trillion in loans from privately
owned Bank Bukopin for the January to March period and another Rp
6 trillion for April-December from Bank Bukopin, BRI and state-
run Bank Mandiri. (10)