Riska Rahman, Jakarta – State-owned banks have restructured more than Rp 120.86 trillion (US$8.05 billion) in loans to over 832,000 borrowers in an effort to curb the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and individuals.
State-Owned Lenders Association (Himbara) chairman Sunarso said on Thursday that of all the borrowers, around 96 percent, or 801,000, came from the micro, small and medium segments accounting for Rp 87.36 trillion, 72 percent of the restructured loans. The remaining restructured loans were from the consumer and wholesale segments.
"This includes small and medium enterprises [SMEs], micro loans, subsidized housing loans and the government micro credit program [KUR]," Sunarso told House of Representatives' Commission VI overseeing state-owned enterprises (SOEs), trade and investment.
According to Himbara's data, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) restructured the largest number of loans totaling Rp 57.73 trillion to 693,615 borrowers, followed by Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), which restructured Rp 39.45 trillion in loans to more than 50,000 borrowers.
Bank Mandiri, meanwhile, restructured a total of Rp 19.04 trillion in loans to 63,202 borrowers with the biggest loans being in the consumer and wholesale segments as the bank is more focused on corporate and wholesale clients.
At the same time, mortgage-focused lender Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) restructured a total of Rp 4.6 trillion in loans to almost 25,000 borrowers, mostly subsidized mortgage clients.
Following President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's recent instruction to prioritize loan restructuring for MSMEs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Sunarso said the state-controlled banks were ready to ease loan principal and interest payments.
"We have prepared several loan relaxation and restructuring schemes to ease their burden during this pandemic," added Sunarso, who is also president director of BRI.
The schemes include postponing loan and interest payments, as well as lowering interest rates, Sunarso said, in line with government announcement on Wednesday. The state-owned lenders will also allow corporate debtors to reschedule their payments should they receive hits from the spread of the coronavirus to their businesses.
The government has unveiled subsidies to cover loan interest ranging from 2 to 6 percent for millions of borrowers in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) segment, the backbone of the Indonesian economy. Micro lenders will also be able to delay their loan repayments for up to six months.