Pawnshop sees brisk business

LARANTUKA, East Nusa Tenggara: As a result of the economic crisis sweeping across the country, the state-owned pawnshop PT Pegadaian here has seen extremely brisk business with people lining up in search of credit.

The Rp 2.8 billion in credit allocated for this year has already been surpassed. In the first five months of this year alone, Rp 2.9 million has been given out.

The head of the pawnshop, Junaidi, confirmed yesterday that the pawnshop was experiencing long lines of people bringing various goods for collateral.

He said as many as 600 ebony tusks and several kilograms of gold had been stored at the pawnshop's warehouse. (yac)