The Ministry Led By Bahlil, Teten, And Erick Thohir Affirms Commitment To Encouraging And Supporting MSMEs

Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia, Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki, and Minister of SOEs Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Investment/Investment Coordinating Agency (BKPM), Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) and Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs affirm their commitment to encourage and support the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The commitment was conveyed by the Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM Bahlil Lahadalia, Minister of SOEs Erick Thohir and Coordinating Minister for SMEs Teten Masduki, where these three ministries facilitate the ease of business licensing issued by the Ministry of Investment/BKPM, provide venture capital assistance through financing conducted by the Ministry of SOEs, and supervise the production and assistance carried out by the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs.

"I have confidence that we can make it happen, but there must be cooperation between regents, mayors, governors and ministries. Because those who know about regional MSMEs are the regents, governors and mayors. We from the Ministry of Investment are preparing an application (Online Single Submission / OSS) ) which is fast, precise and efficient," said Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia in a written statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Thursday, July 14.

Meanwhile, SOE Minister Erick Thohir said that there were three things that became his main focus. First, encourage the target of MSMEs that have business legality to be higher. Second, the absorption of People's Business Credit (KUR). And third, the openness of local governments in cooperating with the central government.

"Well, because of that, the three of us discussed earlier, we will connect the data on PNM Mekaar (Civil National Capital Fostering a Prosperous Family Economy) which amounts to 12.7 million customers, women with loans of IDR 1 million-Rp 4 million. Then we also connect the data MSME customers in Himbara banks. God willing, if we can combine this, the target of 1.5 million NIB (Business Registration Number) to 10 million is not impossible, "said Erick.

According to Erick, in line with the existence of KUR facilities, the government also urges MSEs to be able to take full advantage of business capital financing assistance, especially KUR.

Currently, as much as 50 percent of the total IDR 373 trillion KUR has not been absorbed by MSEs. The increase in KUR distribution is expected to be a stimulus to increase business productivity so that it will bring MSEs to a larger scale and of course encourage economic growth in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for SMEs Teten Masduki expressed his readiness to provide assistance for the development of SMEs in Indonesia.

The government is also open to suggestions from the people to encourage existing MSMEs to be even better.

"Our target is 70 million by 2024, we have collaborated with e-commerce players because what we are pursuing is micro. Now there is enthusiasm from MSMEs to develop their turnover for the better," explained Teten.

The Ministry of Investment/BKPM held an NIB event for Individual UMK Actors which was attended by President Joko Widodo in Jakarta, Wednesday (13/7).

The provision of NIB is a form of translation of President Jokowi's directives so that MSME actors can advance to develop their business with the legality of business licensing.

The NIB owned by MSEs with low risk is also valid as a single license, including the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) and halal product guarantee certification.

Based on data from the Ministry of Investment/BKPM, as of July 13, 2022, 1,510,387 NIBs have been successfully issued through the OSS system throughout Indonesia. Of this figure, 98 percent are NIB for SMEs and 2 percent for medium and large businesses.