Jakarta – Stay-at-home mom Wahyuni looked relieved as she walked away from the pawnshop in Senen, Central Jakarta. "Thank God, now I will be able to pay for my child's diploma," said the resident of the municipality's subdistrict of Kali Pasir.

She had just pocketed several hundred thousand rupiah in exchange for her gold jewelry. One of her six children recently graduated from a nearby vocational school in Gambir, she explained.

A loyal customer for more than 30 years, Wahyuni said she frequented the pawnshop because it was easy to get money quickly there at low interest rates.

"The rate is much cheaper than the interest charged by the loan shark in my kampong. Even if he values an item at one million rupiah, we only get Rp 900,000 and still have to pay monthly interest," she said.

Hery Wibowo, 35, was at the pawnshop for the same reason. "The repayment plan is very flexible. We can either pay the monthly installment or the interest only, and whenever we cannot pay on the due date, they allow us an extension."

More and more people are relying on the services of government-owned pawnshops. The figures recorded in Perum Pegadaian's annual report more than tripled from a little over 5 million in 1996 to over 16 million in 2005. Clients come not only from the lower class, but also from the middle class.

A tastefully made up woman clutching a Hermes tote bag was among the customers at the pawnshop in Senen on Wednesday.

Rully Yusuf, the business development and operational manager of the regional office of the state-owned pawnshop in Senen, said business peaked in periods like Ramadhan, Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year's, as well as during the midyear school break.

"During the first two weeks of Ramadhan, we gave out 40 percent more loans. I guess housewives needed extra money to buy supplies for baking Idul Fitri cookies to sell over the holiday," he said Wednesday. He said it was common for people to reclaim their belongings before Idul Fitri.

Rully predicted many more people would come in for loans two weeks after the Idul Fitri holiday. He said that while the pawnshop offered many different services, including deposit services, loans continued to contribute about 98 percent of the office's income.

"The total value of loans has increased tenfold from Rp 414 billion (US$46 million) in 1996 to Rp 4 trillion in 2005."