Although Still Vulnerable, 22 Percent Of MSMEs Return To Operation After Stopping Due To The Pandemic

JAKARTA - Mandiri Institute reports that based on the survey results, around 22 percent of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have returned to normal operations in 2021 after temporarily stopping their activities due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Head of the Mandiri Institute, Teguh Yudo Wicaksono, said that MSME business conditions are believed to have improved significantly until the beginning of the second quarter of 2021.

"This situation is quite good if we reflect on the September 2020 period which is still under pressure," he said in a press statement, Wednesday, June 30.

Even though there are positive signals, Teguh believes that there is still a high risk of a decline. The survey results indicate that business actors who have experienced an increase in turnover and are able to maintain their sales turnover are increasing.

"But we found that there are still more than 50 percent of MSMEs whose sales have decreased compared to 2020 conditions," he said.

For this reason, he encourages business actors to continue to encourage business activities so that they can remain productive even though they are facing a stressful situation due to the pandemic. One thing that is highlighted is the use of financing facilities if there are problems in capital.

"As for financing, we found that the majority of MSMEs still rely on financing sources from banks," he said.

This is based on the survey results that more than half of MSME business owners (58 percent) rely on financing from the banking sector. Then, less than a quarter (22 percent) go through non-bank financial institutions, while only 6 percent have loans through fintech.

"Therefore, we propose that the government assistance program for MSMEs needs to be continued. Then, the effectiveness of business targets and policy communication needs to be improved considering that this survey noted that 82 percent of respondents were aware of the MSME assistance program, but only 41 percent of businesses registered for the program,” concluded Teguh.