Coordinating Minister Airlangga Calls Retail Entrepreneurs Optimistic That The Indonesian Economy Grows 8 Percent

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said retail entrepreneurs are quite optimistic that Indonesia will be able to achieve 8 percent economic growth.

He said the retail entrepreneurs who are members of the Sampoerna Retail Community (SRC) contributed to advancing the business climate, including encouraging the progress of MSMEs.

"With the presence of the SRC, all SRC partners here are optimistic about the Indonesian economy, all of our retailers are also optimistic. Why is it important to be optimistic, because Indonesia has a domestic market with resilience," said Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto as reported by ANTARA, Monday, March 17.

Furthermore, Airlangga said, optimistic that the retail entrepreneur is important for the national economy, because 52 percent of the national economy is dominated by the consumption sector.

In addition, the Indonesian domestic market which has wide coverage and resilience has also become the background of a number of foreign investors investing in Indonesia.

For this reason, optimism about the national economy has so far proven to be maintained.

As a form of support for MSMEs, in terms of financing, the Government through the Financing Policy Committee for MSMEs continues to be committed to expanding access to financing for business actors with various choice of credit for interest subsidized programs, one of which is People's Business Credit (KUR).

As for 2025, the Government will launch KUR of up to IDR 300 trillion which is given to various sectors, especially the trade sector.

In addition, Coordinating Minister Airlangga also said that the Government also wants to encourage SRC product production partners to support the development of the production sector, as well as support the provision of training to more entrepreneurs in Indonesia.

On this occasion, Airlangga also expressed his appreciation for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between PT SRC Indonesia Sembilan and BRI, Bulog, Pos Indonesia, and Telkomsel.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga also encouraged SRC partners to facilitate the provision of saving packages for the community ahead of the future Eid al-Fitr celebration.

He invited all parties to continue to strive to encourage the progress of MSMEs through digitalization efforts, one of which is by expanding the use of various digital payment systems.

Thus, it is hoped that the role of MSMEs can be more optimal in supporting Indonesia to become a developed country, according to President Prabowo Subianto's direction to escape the trap of middle-class countries in the next 10 years.

"Earlier, I talked about the number of retail stores in America being the same as SRC 250 thousand. So we, which has almost 4 million retail stores, of course, if all of them advance to class, the 8 percent target set by the President is sure that we can achieve 2028-2029," he also said.