President Jokowi: MSME Sector Supports 61 Percent Of National GDP

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that 61 percent of Indonesia's economic Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was supported by trade activities of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

"We know that the number of our MSMEs is approximately 65 million, approximately. The contribution to our economic GDP is 61 percent, very large," said President Jokowi as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, March 7.

He said the MSME sector needed special attention from the government, because apart from being a contributor to the national GDP, it also managed to absorb a very large workforce of 97 percent.

On that occasion, Jokowi appreciated BRI's role in developing the national MSME sector through the implementation of digital banking to touch customers at the bottom.

"Imagine managing 740,000 BRIlink stalls, BRIlink agents are not something that is easy with transactions every year of Rp. 1,400 trillion, taking care of small matters that were previously handled by moneylenders and managed by retail banks everywhere, now taken over by BRI. This is also what we must appreciate," he said.

According to Jokowi, the government also contributes to the development of MSMEs through the distribution of People's Business Credit (KUR) with a subsidy value of IDR 45 trillion.

"The government is also participating, don't get me wrong, for KUR. That's a government subsidy of Rp46 trillion so that the interest can decrease at 3 percent for micro businesses and small businesses of 6 percent," he said.

This contribution, said Jokowi, is not a small nominal, because it is equivalent to the amount of the budget to build 40 reservoir infrastructure.

President Jokowi also appreciated the presence of a number of MSME financing instruments, such as Ultra Micro (UMi) financing managed by BRI with a total number of customers reaching 8.2 million people.

"What has been done in terms of financing, I am happy that BRI Holding, UMi entered. UMi has reached 8.2 million customers who give credit of only up to Rp. 10 million," he said.

In addition, there is also a Prosperous Family Economic Development Program (Mekaar) fostered by Madani National Capital (PNM) which can provide maximum credit at IDR 25 million to 15.2 million customers, and KUR which can provide loans of up to IDR 500 million.