Economist: The Elimination Of MSME Debt Will Have A Significant Impact On The National Economy

JAKARTA - Senior Economist & Associate Faculty of the Indonesian Banking Development Institute (LPPI) Ryan Kiryanto believes that the policy of eliminating the debt of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will have a significant impact on the national economy.

According to Ryan, MSME bad credit bleaching can make them try and have access to financing again.

"Because they are included in the blacklist of the Financial Information Service System (SLIK), if the collection is deleted, it means they are considered paid off. This has an extraordinary impact on the economy," Ryan said in his statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, November 25.

He also supports the presence of Government Regulation (PP) Number 47 of 2024. The presence of a verification team from the government is needed to prevent moral hazard from the bank.

"This state-owned bank also asks for legal protection, legal certainty, if there are any problems in the future, they have a handle, because some from the government participate in verification, so there is no moral hazard," he explained.

The Minister of MSMEs Maman Abdurrahman also expressed the same thing, that this policy must be well socialized in order to avoid moral hazard.

The keywords are in the bank, because actually the bank already has a list of the names of MSME entrepreneurs. There are hundreds of thousands of MSME entrepreneurs, of which they have no ability to pay anymore. What must be anticipated is moral hazard, do not let it be translated. MSME entrepreneurs apply to everything, "said Maman.

Some of the criteria stipulated in the PP are credit that was deleted five years ago, from the completed program credit, and a maximum credit of IDR 500 million.

Banks also cannot just delete collections, because the loans disbursed come from public savings funds, in the form of deposits, savings, and also demand deposits. If credit becomes stuck, banks still have to pay deposit interest and community savings, as a state-owned company, banks must still maintain governance and be responsible for stakeholders.

Even so, Maman is optimistic that the process of eliminating MSME traffic jams can be completed according to the time set by PP 47/2024, which is six months. Later, Himbara will need to hold a General Meeting of Shareholders (GMS) and an internal meeting to obtain shareholder approval regarding collection.

"Because what the bank needs is a legal umbrella to remove the collection of MSME entrepreneurs who cannot afford to pay. So PP is issued so that the bank has a legal umbrella, given six months, together we will finish everything. The bank will also conduct GMS and internal meetings," he explained.