•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Bank Negara Indonesia, the country’s fourth-largest lender by assets, plans to sell up to $500 million of bonds this year to help boost lending in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, a top executive said on Monday.

Gatot Suwondo, president director of BNI, said the lender was gauging the market.

“We have a plan to sell subordinated bonds. … It could be in the first half of this year or in the second half of this year,’’ he said. “The size could go in the range of $200 million to $300 million. It may go up to $500 million.”

Indonesian companies, including banks, are selling bonds to capitalize on low borrowing costs after sovereign debt upgrades from ratings agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings in the past two months.

Bank Bukopin, a midsize lender, plans to sell Rp 1 trillion ($112 million) of seven-year bonds in March. The issuance is part of the lender’s larger plan to sell Rp 2 trillion in bonds this year.

BNI, Gatot said, will sell dollar- denominated bonds in order to have dollar-denominated funds in its portfolio. “With dollar funds in our books, our performance will not be affected by the possible global slow down,” he said.

The central bank has kept its benchmark interest rate at 6 percent, a record low, after cutting the policy rate by a total of 75 basis points in October and November last year. Bank Indonesia, which is due to hold its next monetary policy meeting on Feb. 9, is expected to maintain that rate.

BNI expects to have posted a 30 percent increase in net income last year from Rp 4.1 trillion in 2010, due to higher net interest income and lower operating costs.

Shares of BNI shed 4.2 percent to Rp 3,425 on the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Monday. Shares of the lender have fallen 9.8 percent so far this year.