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Banks may hold off for now on trimming lending rates after the central bank held its rate steady this week, but industry professionals see cuts on the not-too-distant horizon.

“If Bank Indonesia maintains its rate, then the fair response by BCA [Bank Central Asia] would be to do the same,’’ BCA’s president director, Jahja Setiaatmadja, said as quoted by Investor Daily.

The central bank has been coaxing the big commercial banks to cut their prime lending rates as part of its effort to spur borrowing and boost growth. The central bank reduced its key interest rate by 75 basis points in two meetings in October and November, to 6 percent.

Several banks did respond accordingly. Bank Mandiri, the country’s largest lender by assets, and BCA, the second biggest, reduced their rates across the board by half a percentage point in late November. The cuts have been effective since December.

Bank Mandiri put its rate for retail loans at 12 percent, corporate loans at 10 percent and mortgage loans at 10.75 percent. BCA cut the rate on retail loans by 50 basis points to 10.50 percent.

Juniman, Bank Internasional Indonesia’s chief economist, said more banks would follow suit.

“Indonesian banks will comply with the central bank’s demand to lower rates; they just need more time,” he said. “The rate was last cut in November, so I think that around January banks will start cutting their lending rates.”

On Thursday, Bank Indonesia’s board of governors decided to hold its overnight policy rate at 6 percent, a move that anticipated a worsening outlook for the global economy. The central bank said its evaluation of the domestic economy showed growth would remain strong here.

Bank Indonesia is aiming for domestic inflation of 4 percent to 6 percent this year, easing to 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent in 2012.

Consumer prices in Indonesia rose 4.15 percent last month compared to the same period a year earlier.

On growth, the central bank forecast that Indonesia would expand 6.5 percent in the final quarter this year, bringing growth for 2011 to 6.5 percent.

Bank Indonesia announced in March that it would require banks with assets of more than Rp 10 trillion ($1.1 billion) to make their prime lending rates publicly available. The move, the central bank said, was aimed at improving efficiency at banks, which in turn “would reduce the rate they charge on customers.”

Prime lending rates are the rates charged by banks to corporations, retailers and consumers. They take into account the cost of funds, overhead costs and profit margins. The final decision on the rate depends on individual customers’ risk profiles.