Budi Arie Expects The Red And White Kopdes To Improve The Welfare And Progress Of The Village

Menkop Budi Arie Setiadi wants the Red and White Kopdes to reduce poverty (doc. Kemenkop).

The Minister of Cooperatives (Menkop), Budi Arie Setiadi, said that the Red and White Village Cooperative (Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih) was the hope of the village community.

The reason is that President Prabowo Subianto's program is considered to be a tool for the struggle to improve people's welfare and village progress throughout Indonesia.

"We hope that the Red and White Village Cooperative is not just a program, but indeed has an impact on social problems in Indonesia."

"For example, like this, there are many government subsidies, really, poverty in villages does not decrease, stunting is still high, poverty is still high in villages."

"Well, that's why the existence of the Red and White Village Cooperative will have a measuring instrument on how much poverty is falling and so on. The end is national economic growth," said Budi Arie at the Kemenkop office, Jakarta, Saturday, July 12, 2025.

Budi Arie believes that the Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih is a program to break the distribution chain of moneylenders, middlemen, and can provide access to rural communities in terms of capital to the distribution of basic goods and so on.

"So, the process will be transparent through digital, system if possible cashless."

"However, we receive any input from the community because we have also collaborated with law enforcement officials, the KPK, and the Attorney General's Office who have the Village Guard program," he said.

The government, said Budi Arie, wants the Red and White Kopdes/Kel to be able to leverage and contribute to economic equality and national economic growth.

"What is certain is that this poverty rate is still large in villages and the village economic gap compared to cities is very large."

"Therefore, we want to realize how cooperatives can contribute to national economic growth."

"That's from the GDP, right, it's clear. From the GDP number, it's only 14 percent of the village economy, 86 percent of the city's economy," he said.