TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bank Central Asia (BCA) will tighten its lending this year. Jahja Setiaatmadja, BCA CEO, said that the step was taken because the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and Bank Indonesia wants to keep credit growth at 15 to 17 percent in 2014. "If we don't keep it down, the growth can be above 20 percent," he said.

Jahja said that during the first quarter, credit disbursement was slower compared to the same period last year. One segment which has slowed down is the people's housing loan (KPR). The number of application for BCA housing loans during the first quarter in 2014 declined by 40 percent compared to last year.

This year, BCA estimates its credit disbursement to grow only by 15 percent, lower than 2013, which reached 22 percent. However, Jahja said that BCA would change the credit growth target to 18 percent if the economic condition was good and the election ran smoothly. "Until September, we estimate it to still be around 15 percent," he said.

Bank International Indonesia (BII) Chief Economist, Juniman, also estimates that banks credits will slow down during the first quarter of this year. However, it can potentially grow again after the first quarter as the economy improves. Credit in the industrial sector as of January 2014 was at 20.9 percent, a decrease from 21.4 percent in December 2013. "Nominally, credits go down from Rp 3.292 trillion in December 2013 to Rp 3.258 trillion in January 2014," he said.

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