Erick Thohir: NIB Is A Form Of President Jokowi's Alignment With MSME Actors

Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir said that the provision of a business identification number (NIB) was a form of President Joko Widodo's alignment with small, micro and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Erick admitted that he and the Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM Bahlil Lahadalia received a direct mandate from Jokowi to increase the provision of NIB for MSME actors. "Mr. President of the Republic of Indonesia emphasized and assigned us and the Kemenkop UKM to provide as much space as possible to MSMEs, not only permits that have been rolled out, the figure is almost three million, but also MSME funding that we continue to encourage," Erick said in his statement in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Friday, October 21. Meanwhile, Bahlil said that giving NIB to MSMEs was a collaboration between the Ministry of SOEs, the Ministry of Investment, and the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs. He said the realization of NIB grants until October had reached almost 2.5 million and was targeted to reach 3 million by the end of this year. "Alhamdulillah, there were also many MSME actors who asked for help from Mr. Erick, both working capital, providing places, and others. I think this is a form of translation from the President of the Republic of Indonesia that investment should not only take care of the big ones, but we also take care of the small ones," said Bahlil. Previously, Bahlil said that through the risk-based Online Single Submission (OSS) system, the issuance of NIB for MSMEs is now so easy, fast, and free. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that there were still problems with licensing OSS for companies with great risks. Currently, he said, Indonesia's investment ease continues to improve among ASEAN member countries, even now only one point behind Singapore in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report.