BTN To Continue Aggressive In Credit Expansion

Jakarta, July 24 (Antara) - Publicly traded lender PT Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) said it will continue to be aggressive in expanding credit in the second half of the year despite warning of inflation and liquidity problem. "We are optimistic as we performed well in the first half of the year. We will continue to be smoothing and aggressive in the second semester," a bank director Mas Guntur Dwi S told reporters here on Tuesday evening. The bank is set to reach its target for posting outstanding credits at Rp102.7 trillion by the end of this year. By the end of June the state bank already posted Rp91 trillion in outstanding credit, up from Rp72 trillion six months earlier. Guntur said credit growth and expansion plan in the second half of 2013 were part of the bank`s working plan set last year. "We will not slow our pace from what we have done in the first half of the year," he said. He said the target could even be overshot if credit demand is stronger than expected. He said housing ownership credits, which accounted for 86.12 percent of its total credit in the first half of the year, will continue to be more dominant. Meanwhile, BTN president Maryono said the tightening of the regulation on loan to value ratio (LTV) to be ruled by Bank Indonesia in September would not put a brake on BTN`s credit expansion. "LTV would not come in the way of our credit expansion as around 97 percent of our credits are for the end users. Business wise, there is no problem in BTN`s credit distribution," Maryono said On the contrary, the LTV regulation will serve to guarantee stability in the prices of houses, he said. With the stability, it would be easier for middle to lower class consumers to get bank credits for houses, he said. Tighter LTV regulation could also help prevent wider backlog in house supply in the country, he said, adding backlog is still high at around 13.5 million units of house. He said BTN will continue to support the government program in the housing program through the scheme of housing financing liquidity facility (FLPP). In 2012, BTN contributed a high contribution of 98 percent to the realization of the program.