MSME Actors Are Optimistic That The National Economy Will Be Bright

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JAKARTA - Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are believed to have high optimism about the prospects for the national economy in the future. However, the existing optimism is estimated to decrease slightly by considering the threat of the spread of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 which is considered quite worrying.

"We measured the MSME business activity expectation index in the fourth quarter of 2021. So their expectations are in the next three months, namely in the first quarter of 2022. It turns out that MSME players are still optimistic, because the value is above 100," said the President Director of PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia. Tbk (BRI), in a virtual discussion, as reported by Antara, Friday, March 11.

According to Sunarso, the MSME Business Activity Expectation Index in quarter IV/2021 was recorded at 129.6. This note was slightly lower than the index in the previous quarter, which was 132.0. "This means that although they are still optimistic, MSME actors are still quite wary of economic conditions with the new variant of Omicron," said Sunarso.

Meanwhile, the trend of strengthening the business activity index from 95.3 to 104.1 in recent times shows that MSME business activity has been getting better.

Next, in the research compiled by BRI, there is also an index of MSME trust in the government with a value that increased from 120.70 to 131.1. This shows that MSME actors still have confidence in the government in overcoming economic challenges.

"The entire MSME business index shows that MSME actors have good optimism," said Sunarso.

He added that BRI is currently developing the digitization of transactions related to MSMEs. This step was taken to overcome the challenges of developing MSMEs in the midst of the national economic recovery.

"Playing in a small segment like BRI, there are two challenges, namely high operational costs and risks. Both of these will be treated by digitalization, which will reduce operational costs and risks, especially from the human error factor," said Sunarso.