Bank Mandiri Targets Credit Growth Of 5 Percent Until The End Of 2021

JAKARTA - PT Bank Mandiri Tbk is optimistic that credit growth will find growth momentum in the second quarter of 2021. This has become a breath of fresh air after previously being under strong pressure throughout 2020 due to the pandemic factor.

Bank Mandiri Treasury and International Banking Director Panji Irawan said the digitalization of the payment sector is one of the driving forces for increasing public consumption activities.

Therefore, he assessed that banking intermediation will improve this year, in line with the national economic recovery.

"With the assumption that economic growth this year continues to enter a positive trend, we see that credit growth will improve by around 5 percent", he said at the Media Gathering Virtual Economic Outlook & Industry for the Second Quarter of 2021, Wednesday, May 19.

Panji claims, the company's performance in the first quarter of 2021 continues to improve with maintained quality. According to him, on a consolidated basis, Bank Mandiri's total assets grew quite high, reaching 20 percent year-on-year (yoy).

"Bank Mandiri credit in the ending balance grew by 9.1 percent yoy, while on average balance, credit grew 8.1 percent yo-", he said.

On the other hand, third-party funds (DPK) grew quite high, reaching 25.5 percent yoy, much higher than the growth in deposits in the banking industry of 9.5 percent.

This loose liquidity is inseparable from Bank Indonesia's policy of lowering the BI 7-day reverse repo rate (7DRR) to its historical low of 3.5 percent to trigger economic recovery.

Not only that, various fiscal, monetary and macroprudential stimulus policies have also been implemented, such as the exemption of VAT in the automotive sector, loosening of the Loan to Value Ratio (LTV) regulation for banks to spur credit growth.

"We are quite optimistic that the company's performance will continue to improve in the 2021 period, driven by the continuous improvement in the national economy and also improvements in the performance of the banking industry as a whole", he concluded.