Impact Of Credit Restructuring, BUMN Banks Need Liquidity Of IDR 156 Trillion

JAKARTA - The Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara) or state-owned banks projects a total liquidity requirement of around Rp. 156 trillion as a result of credit restructuring to debtors affected by COVID-19 for six months to postpone principal installments and interest subsidies.

"Due to delays in principal payments, banks are experiencing liquidity pressure," said Chairman Himbara Sunarso in an online discussion on Maintaining the Banking Industry amid the COVID-19 Pandemic in Jakarta, Friday.

The President Director of BRI detailed that for the postponement of principal installments for six months, the projection of liquidity needs will reach IDR144 trillion and interest subsidies to reach IDR12.1 trillion.

Of that amount, he continued, BRI for principal postponement reached Rp. 91 trillion and interest subsidies reached Rp. 5.8 trillion.

"Customers may delay payment of principal but banks may not delay payment of deposits due to depositors," he added.

Given the large liquidity needs, BRI has specifically been looking for ways to get disbursement of funds.

BRI, he continued, would receive a loan of US $ 1 billion from 13 foreign banks to maintain liquidity from pressure due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It turns out that in the current situation, Indonesia, especially BRI, is trusted by the international community, the proof is that they easily provide loans to us," he said.

The amount of interest on the loan is claimed to be cheap, which is under 2 percent on average. He explained that the loan disbursement will come in June 2020 so that it will strengthen foreign exchange reserves and will then be exchanged for rupiah.