Indonesian third-largest bank BRI profit up by 23 pct in 2008

JAKARTA -
Indonesia's state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia or BRI net profit rose by 23 percent to 5.96 trillion rupiah (some 512.56 million U.S. dollars) last year compared with the year 2007, the bank said on Tuesday in its report. "Amid the global financial routs, the bank still shows its best performance," Director for Operation of the bank Sarwono Sudarto said here.

Banks in Indonesia have been expected to cut lending rate following the rate cut by 50 basis points to 7.75 percent recently to boost economic growth. March 31, 2009