Indonesia's main banks are in good shape, but are frustrating a supportive government's plans to stimulate the economy by adopting less than generous lending regimes.
Bank Indonesia, the central bank, has cut its benchmark interest rate by three percentage points since the start of the year to a record low of 6.5% in August, yet domestic banks have reduced their lending rates by less than a quarter of a percentage point and cut deposit rates by just over 1.75 percentage points.
They have been earning net interest margins of around 6%, one of the highest in Asia, but lending by the top commercial banks rose by only 1.1% to Rp1,378 trillion...
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