Indonesia has chosen the winning bid for a majority stake in Bank Central Asia (BCA) and will announce it this week, despite a background of rising dissent.

The sale is the country's most significant privatisation since the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s and a key requirement for International Monetary Fund (IMF) assistance.

"We've already got the winner, but it is not ethical if I reveal it now, because there are some administrative matters that have to be completed," State Enterprises Minister Laksamana Sukardi said.

"We are still going to announce the winner this week, maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow it will be clear," he said.

Anglo-Asian giant Standard Chartered Bank is expected to beat the only other remaining bidder, US investment company Farallon.

Opposition protests

The BCA sale has faced growing opposition this week, with about 4,000 of BCA's 21,000 workers protesting against the sale in Jakarta on Monday.

They claim there will be big job losses and that the privatisation will only benefit foreigners.

A member of President Megawati's cabinet said such protests could be grounds for cancelling the sale.

But Indonesia's vice-president, Hamzah Haz, has reiterated that the sale will go ahead, saying it is a central demand of the IMF.