Airlangga's Subordinates Call The Collaboration Of The Pre-Employment Card And KUR Program A Support For MSMEs During The Pandemic

Photo via Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs

JAKARTA - The Pre-Employment Card and People's Business Credit (KUR) program is a mainstay program to strengthen MSMEs during the pandemic. Since it was officially opened in February 2020, as many as 11.4 million people throughout Indonesia have become recipients of the Pre-Employment Card Program.

The expertise received from participating in the program is then supported by the government with business financing through KUR, so that the recipients of the Pre-Employment Card Program who become entrepreneurs can develop their businesses.

During the pandemic, the Government provided a 6% KUR interest subsidy in 2020, and then 3% in 2021.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said this government program was proven to be able to support MSMEs to continue doing their business during the pandemic. This can be seen from the growth of MSMEs during the pandemic which continues to increase accompanied by national economic growth which has been on a positive path.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga had several direct dialogues with alumni of the Pre-Employment Program and KUR recipients in Indonesian regions. On this occasion, Coordinating Minister Airlangga listened to stories of the struggles and successes of the alumni of the Pre-Employment Card Program.

On these various occasions, Coordinating Minister Airlangga also always assured the public that the Government was present with policies that favored the community, including the Pre-Employment Card Program accompanied by the distribution of KUR for the alumni of the Entrepreneurial Pre-Employment Card Program.

As an appreciation for the enthusiasm and participation of the community towards the Pre-Employment Card Program, this dialogue activity with alumni of the Pre-Employment Card Program was held in Garut, West Java, Friday, November 26.

In general, West Java is the province with the most registrants and recipients nationally, with 5.2 million registrants and more than 1,490,000 recipients. In particular, Garut Regency has high enthusiasm shown by 262,000 Garut Regency people who have registered for the Pre-Employment Card Program with 72,763 recipients, Garut Regency being the 7th largest recipient in West Java Province.

On the occasion, Coordinating Minister for Airlangga, represented by the Deputy for Coordination of the Digital Economy, Employment, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Mochammad Rudy Salahuddin, expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the support of the Regional Government, especially Garut Regency, which contributed to the success of the Pre-Employment Card Program.

"The involvement of the Regional Government must continue to be carried out, because the synergy between the Central and Regional Governments is very much needed to succeed in Government programs that were created to support the community, especially the Pre-Employment Card Program," said Deputy Rudy Salahuddin in a press release.

Garut Regent Rudy Gunawan on this occasion also thanked the programs initiated by the Central Government, especially to support MSMEs. Rudy Gunawan admits that the people of Garut Regency are enthusiastic about Central Government programs, especially the Pre-Employment Card and KUR Program.

Regarding KUR, Garut Regency has a low NPL rate of 0.5. This government program is proven to be able to improve the regional economy, which can be seen in the economic growth rate of Garut Regency, which is the highest in the province of West Java.

In the dialogue, the recipients of the Pre-Employment Card Program shared stories of their persistence during the pandemic. Ten representatives of the recipients of the Pre-Employment Card Program who attended came from various different sectors, ranging from the culinary business, coffee, sound system, printing, and agriculture.

Most of these alumni maximize the balances obtained from the Pre-Employment Card Program by participating in various trainings. The incentives received after participating in the program are also used as capital to open businesses and support existing businesses.

Seeing this high enthusiasm, on this occasion the Government through Bank BNI distributed KUR to alumni of the Pre-Employment Card Program in need. Not only that, assistance in the form of supporting tools and savings was also provided to strengthen the efforts that were being carried out by the alumni of the Pre-Employment Card Program.

Director of Bank BNI Sis Apik Wijayanto said that the distribution of KUR will continue to be maximized, especially since Garut Regency has great potential in the agricultural and tourism sectors.

Also present on the occasion was Member of the Indonesian House of Representatives Ferdiansyah and the ranks of Bank BNI in Garut Regency.