Loan repayment rate up slightly

Loan repayment rate up slightly

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia (the central bank) said yesterday
that the collectibility rate of loans at state banks slightly
increased to 81.37 percent as of last December from 80.55 percent
as of last September, but was still well below an average of
87.94 percent at commercial banks in general.

The central bank's governor, J. Soedradjad Djiwandono, also
said at a hearing with the Trade and Finance Commission of the
House of Representatives early this week that bad loans at the
country's seven state banks reached Rp 6.1 trillion ($2.77
billion) as of last January.

Bank Indonesia said in a statement yesterday that a number of
doubtful loans at the commercial banks have shifted to the
category of bad loans.

"To get more accurate data, we have conducted repeat on-site
examinations of commercial banks, especially state-owned banks...
After a correction of previous data, the figure of bad loans
increased, especially at Bapindo," the central bank said.

Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) has been ridden with
hefty bad loans since its US$450 million loan to Eddy Tansil's
Golden Key Group went sour last year. Its loans worth hundreds
of millions of dollars to giant textile company PT Kanindo
Success Textile also got them into trouble last year.

The seven state banks control almost half of the country's
total lending market. The central bank's latest weekly report,
dated Feb. 15, shows that commercial banks' credits stood at Rp
187.61 trillion as of last December. (rid)