Bank Assets In Riau Islands Grow 23 Pct

Batam, Jan 8 (antara) - Bank Indonesia (BI) said bank assets in the province of Riau Islands were valued at Rp46.63 trillion in Nov. 2013 or a 23 percent increase from a year earlier. General banks accounted for 91.55 percent or Rp42.69 trillion of the assets with People Credit Banks (BPR) accounting for Rp3.94 trillion, sharia banks for Rp2.81 trillion, Gustri Raizal Eka Putra, head of the central bank representative office in the province, said here on Wednesday. "The assets of sharia (Islamic) banks grew 21.44 percent on-year," Gusti said. He said the province`s economic performance slowed in 2013 as indicated by the lower credit growth in November compared with a year before. Credit for the real estate sector and corporate services grew only 1.63 percent year-on-year as against a growth of 52.25 percent in 2012, he said. Credits for the construction sector even declined 16.29 percent on-year , he added. The decline in credit expansion in the sectors was attributable to the loan to value (LTV) regulation of Bank Indonesia, economic slowdown, rupiah depreciation and problem in the status of protected forests, he said giving no details. The wholesales and retail trading sector grew only 19.75 percent as against a growth rate of 30.22 percent (yoy) a year before. However, the non performing loan ratio, was still kept in a safe level of 1.81 percent. On the contrary, a strong growth of 26.84 percent was recorded in the third party fund, increasing to Rp39.38 trillion in Nov. 2013 from Rp31.05 trillion a year earlier. The banking fund structure was dominated by savings accounting for 40.34 percent, followed by giro funds for 32.98 percent and deposits for 26.67 percent. With the slowdown in credit expansion, third party funds growing faster, the loan to deposit (LDR) ratio of banks in the province was only 76.73 percent, he said.