KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. State-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) reported a net profit of Rp 7.63 trillion (US$545.95 million) in the first half of this year, an increase of only 2.7 percent from Rp 7.44 trillion in the first six months last year.

The low profit growth, which declined from 16 percent recorded in the first semester,  2018, was caused by an increase in the costs of funds to 3.2 from 2.8 percent in the same period, last year, the bank’s finance director Anggoro Eko Cahyo said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Interest income rose only 9.4 percent,  lower than 13.3 percent in the same period, last year, while the net interest income rose only by 1 percent , lower than the 5.4 percent in the Jan-June period, last year, Kompas.com reported on Tuesday.

 The bank’s lending rose 20 percent to Rp 549 trillion in the first half of this year from Rp 470 trillion in the first six months of last year.  The corporate loans accounted for 52 percent of the total lending.

During the same period, the bank’s third party funds (deposits) rose 13 percent to Rp 595.07 trillion from Rp 526.48 trillion, while its gross nonperforming loans fell to 1.8 percent from 2.1 percent.

Editor: Herlina Kartika Dewi