Jakarta. Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa is mulling injecting more cash to state lenders, saying that the government still has around Rp 250 trillion ($15 billion) left at Bank Indonesia.

When the senior economist first joined the cabinet in early September, Purbaya decided to place Rp 200 trillion of the government’s funds parked at the central bank to five state lenders -- BNI, BRI, Mandiri, BSI, and BTN -- in a bid to jump-start lending. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Purbaya said that BNI and BRI had asked for additional fund injection using the Rp 250 trillion in cash reserves, a proposal that the minister was willing to consider.

“But then again, we will see how ready they are [to accept the additional cash injection],” Purbaya said.

“But how much can these banks disburse [as loans]? When I meet people like this, I’d ask them ‘can you do it?’. But once we give the money, they get confused [as to how they will disburse them],” the minister stated.

The government is considering the bigger injection as money in circulation only grew at 13 percent, while ideally, the growth should be at 20 percent. Purbaya also said that the cash injection could drive national economic growth to 5.5 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the fourth quarter of 2025.

“If there are no changes to the policy, our economy will grow even faster,” Purbaya said.

BRI’s boss Hery Gunardi confirmed that the bank had requested for more funds, on top of the initial Rp 55 trillion injection. BRI has also disbursed approximately Rp 49.7 trillion as loans so far. 

“However, [the extra funds] will depend on Mr. Minister. We will see,” Hery said.

BNI and Mandiri also received Rp 55 trillion each in the first tranche. The sharia lender BSI got Rp 10 trillion, while the mortgage bank BTN received Rp 25 trillion. As of the end of September, BRI’s loan disbursement reached Rp 33.9 trillion (62 percent), followed by BNI at Rp 27.6 trillion. BSI has disbursed Rp 5.5 trillion, meaning that the sharia bank has already hit the halfway mark. BTN is still falling behind as its disbursement only stood at Rp 4.8 trillion or just 19 percent of the injection.

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