Purbaya Bans Salurkan Kredit Rp200 Trillion In Himbara To Conglomerate

The Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Purbaya Yudhi Sadive. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadive emphasized that state-owned banks (Himbara) that received government funding injections of Rp200 trillion were prohibited from buying dollars or distributing them to conglomerates.

Beyond the ban, Purbaya emphasized that banks have full freedom in utilizing these funds.

According to him, this step was taken so that Himbara could effectively channel funds to sectors that needed it without excessive intervention from the government.

"We ask banks who receive the funds, don't give them to conglomerates, and they can't buy dollars because otherwise the rupiah will weaken. But others are actually free," he said at the Indonesian Economist 100 Sarasehan event, Tuesday, October 28.

He explained that the mechanism for distributing these funds would run automatically through the banking system, so that the Rp200 trillion would enter various industrial sectors in need, as well as encourage the movement of the national economy.

"If it's normal, the banking system is good, it will spread to the first banking system, then to credit and others. That will drive the economy. So the theory I use. Actually, I don't interfere too much with the use of the funds," he said.

Purbaya added, by placing these funds in Himbara, banks are encouraged to channel them into the productive sector.

"If they put it in the process, they will continue to lose money. He paid with me almost 4 percent. He was forced to distribute the money maybe first at the interbank, elsewhere, at credit. Finally, credit. Credit gives good looking. There are good projects, then the bank is limited to fighting for a limited project, interest will go down. So I created them, told them to compete in the economy so that loan interest goes down. Now it's enough." he explained.

According to him, so that the deposit interest rate also decreased, and large fund owners were encouraged to spend their money instead of saving it in the bank.

"That's one of the impacts of the decline in the opportunity cost of money," he said.

"Because now the interest is less if you put it in the central bank. So that's the main thing. So we don't intervene in various kinds. Mafia, state finances. I don't really understand that, sir. What's important for me is now that the local government, the central government, the ministry has a budget to spend according to the budget," he added.

Even so, he acknowledged that the impact of the placement of funds on the decline in banking interest rates was not too significant.

"If I see the flowers falling and the community's optimism has returned, the economic movement is starting to grow, credit is starting to grow slightly. Not as fast as I expected. But it is clear that the reversal of the economy has been seen," he concluded.