Kemenkop UKM Says Credit Scoring Will Be Implemented In Prabowo's Government

Deputy for Micro Business at the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs Yulius (center). (Photo: Theresia Agatha/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises (Kemenkop UKM) will pass on the implementation of a credit scoring ecosystem or loan system for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to the Prabowo Subianto Government.

Deputy for Micro Business at the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs Yulius said the government is targeting the implementation of credit scoring starting in 2025. This means that the Kemenkop UKM will pass this program on to the next government led by Prabowo Subianto.

When asked if this had been discussed with the Prabowo-Gibran Transitional Team, Yulius said that the implementation of this credit scoring had received the approval of the Minister of Finance, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy.

"The target is valid next year. We have spoken with the Minister of Finance, OJK and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy. The response is positive," Yulius said at a press conference at his office, Tuesday, October 8.

The application of credit scoring is seen as making it easier for MSME players to get financing from the People's Business Credit (KUR) program.

The reason is, currently the bank is still using credit history data for KUR distribution.

Meanwhile, there are 30.76 million MSMEs that do not yet have loan facilities to the bank.

Yulius explained that currently credit scoring is being piloted in three banks. According to him, the three banks are sufficient to start implementing this scheme.

The banks that conducted credit scoring trials were PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI) and PT Bank Mandiri Indonesia Tbk.

"Among them are BRI, Mandiri who are currently testing. However, we have not achieved the whole thing, some of which are worth 72,000 customers as pilot projects, including BRI," he said.

He added that later there will be a consortium that will take care of technical credit scoring, starting from the terms of recipients, models to implementation systems.

"This consortium is located in four ministries, namely the Kemenkop UKM, Kemenkeu, OJK and the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy," he said.

The implementation of credit scoring which will start next year is a certainty that the government will perpetuate the KUR program.

In addition, the program that will also be continued in the Prabowo Government is the Business Identification Number (NIB) program which makes it easier for MSMEs to get loans.

"Of course, we will continue to do many things, for example, how can great entrepreneurs and product certification be important to complement the ability of MSME products in the global market. Of course, we will encourage product certification to increase the productivity of MSME competitiveness products," explained Yulius.

According to Yulius, apart from access to financing, the biggest challenge faced by micro-scale business actors is market access.

"So, the role of the government is important in providing convenience, assistance and training for business actors to gain market and financing access. That way, this micro-scale business can advance to class," he added.