Illustrative image. (Photo: tempo.co)

Jakarta – Bank Indonesia (BI) is preparing 195 trillion Rp (12.7 billion USD) in cash in preparation for the upcoming holy month of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr.

Head of the Money Management Department of Bank Indonesia Marlison Hakim said that based on the national banking withdrawal plan, BI prepared cash amounting to 195 trillion Rp for the 2023 Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, an increase of 8.22% from the previous year.

The banking industry has committed to open 5,066 service points across Indonesia, which is 8% higher than last year’s figure, he said, adding that this marks the industry's response to public mobilisation, economic growth and people's needs.

Hakim said that the banking industry will provide integrated roving cash services in Jakarta and several regions. For the Jakarta, Bogor, Depok and Bekasi region, as many as 599 service points will be provided by 55 banks.

The services will be provided in crowd centre areas such as terminals, markets, he went on.

The official also said that BI will also start to implement national service on a wholesale basis through coordinating with the Indonesian Rural Banks Association (Perbarindo) and the Indonesian Retailers Association (Aprindo) to meet people's needs.