MSME Sector Financing Grows Positively In January 2022

MSME entrepreneurs fill perfume from patchouli oil raw materials into packaging bottles in Batee Lapan Village, North Aceh, Aceh/ Antara

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia Aceh Province noted that financing for the MSME sector grew positively in the local province in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, from Rp. 8.3 trillion in December 2021 to Rp. 8.5 trillion in January 2022.

"Nominally the position of MSME financing as of January 2022 grew 2.8 percent compared to December 2021 and in terms of ratios, MSME financing in January 2022 also improved compared to December 2021," said Head of Bank Indonesia Aceh Province, Achris Sarwani in Banda Aceh. , reported by Antara, Sunday, February 27.

He explained that MSME financing growth showed a positive signal in early 2022 after experiencing a deep contraction in the fourth quarter of 2021 which was reflected in annual growth (yoy) of -19.50 percent in December 2021 and began to improve at the level of -13.41 percent in January. 2022.

"The ratio of MSME financing to total financing was recorded at 28 percent, an increase of 1 percent compared to December 2021 which was recorded at 27 percent," he said.

According to him, with the proportion of MSME financing, in general, banking in Aceh is still in line with Bank Indonesia Regulation (PBI) Number 23/13/PBI/2021 concerning Macroprudential Inclusive Financing Ratios for Conventional Commercial Banks, Sharia Commercial Banks, and Sharia Business Units which require The distribution of financing to MSMEs reaches 25 percent of the total financing portfolio in June 2023.

He said that in addition to regulations from Bank Indonesia, Aceh has a specificity with the Qanun on Sharia Financial Institutions (LKS) which also requires banks in Aceh to channel MSME financing as much as 40 percent of the total portfolio.

He said easy access to financing needed to be supported by clear financial reports and able to utilize digital technology so that the track record related to the performance of MSMEs could be used in assessing financing prospects by banks.

In addition, MSMEs must always be committed to maintaining and improving the quality of their products in order to continue to maintain the operational and financial performance of these MSMEs.

Achris Sarwani said that Bank Indonesia Aceh Province was committed to developing MSMEs with various strategic activities, programs and events.

He added that in early 2022, Bank Indonesia Aceh Province held the "ACEH SerU" or ACEH Serbu UMKM as a series of activities leading to the "BEREH" or ACEH Meriah Month (Aceh Gayo Creative Work 2022) event in June 2022 by cooperating with various stakeholders such as Bank Aceh Syariah, Bank Syariah Indonesia, Link Aja, Gramedia, and RRI throughout Aceh to invite people to shop at MSMEs.

This activity allows the public to get shopping discounts with payments through QRIS in the many MSMEs involved in these activities.

"This movement is intended to encourage Aceh's MSMEs to develop and be loved by the community. This movement is also to encourage the people of Aceh to become more accustomed to digital transactions that are fast, easy, cheap, safe and reliable with QRIS," he said.