Government Removes Debt Bills Of IDR 2.5 Trillion For 67,000 MSME Customers

Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Maman Abdurrahman. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Maman Abdurrahman stated that the government removed debt bills for 67 thousand MSME customers throughout Indonesia with a total value of around Rp. 2.5 trillion.

Maman said this policy was the first step from the government's target to abolish all receivables of 1 million MSMEs worth more than IDR 14 trillion.

"What has been deleted by books is 1 million MSME entrepreneurs spread throughout Indonesia. To enter collections until today, our potential can be 67 thousand," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, January 3.

Removing books is an administrative action taken to remove bad credit from the balance sheet, without deleting collection rights from debtors.

While deleting collections is an act by banks to remove debtors' obligations on loans that cannot be settled by eliminating collection rights.

"This means that customers who have deleted books can be whitened, so they can return to obtaining financing facilities," he said.

He said the collection delete program had received support from the Ministry of SOEs and the Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara).

According to Maman, the abolition of receivables will not harm the bank, because the list is already in the category of removing books.

The government is targeting the process of removing collections to be completed next week. The launch of the program is scheduled for the second week of January, with President Prabowo Subianto's plan to attend the awarding ceremony for eliminating debt to 3 thousand MSME customers.

In addition, Maman emphasized that the government will strengthen access to financing for MSME players through various schemes, including savings and loan cooperatives.

"The government's spirit is to open the widest possible access to capital for small entrepreneurs so that they can continue to grow," he said.

Previously, President Prabowo Subianto officially signed Government Regulation (PP) Number 47 of 2024 concerning the Elimination of bad debts to MSMEs.

The policy includes removing bad debt bills to MSMEs in three fields, namely agriculture, plantations, and livestock; fisheries and marine; as well as other MSMEs such as fashion/busana, culinary, creative industry, and others.