The Government Provides Unsecured Working Capital Credit Assistance Worth IDR 2.5 Million To MSMEs

Illustration. (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

JAKARTA - The government is again providing assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the form of easy access to working capital credit. Later, the procedure for providing this facility will also be made easier.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance, Hadiyanto, explained that working capital credit assistance will be given to MSME actors worth IDR 2.5 million. This assistance can be used without guarantee.

Furthermore, he said, this step was taken by the government so that more and more MSMEs would receive assistance from the government in the midst of a crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"As a sector that supports 57 percent of the national economy, MSMEs are the government's top priority. This (Rp. 2.5 million loan assistance) is done so that MSMEs will soar, the economy will rise," he said, in a virtual discussion, Thursday, August 6.

Hadiyanto said, MSMEs are the backbone of the national economy, therefore specifically for this sector the government provides a complete package of conveniences. Starting from relaxing credit payments to easy access to unsecured working capital to restart businesses that had decreased due to the impact of the pandemic.

On the same occasion, Special Staff to the Minister of Finance Yustinus Prastowo said that this working capital assistance is a productive social assistance program (bansos).

Furthermore, he said, the assistance scheme for MSMEs was being formulated and was in the finalization stage. "Productive social assistance is being formulated, the scheme is finalized, so that MSMEs can get working capital," he said.

Previously, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said the government would extend social assistance. One of them is the UMKM sector. The budget that will be issued reaches IDR 30 trillion for 12 million business units.

"Then, we also provide productive social assistance for 12 million MSMEs. They get (assistance) as conveyed by President Jokowi to several very small UMKM entrepreneurs and that is in the form of productive assistance. So it is not a loan but assistance. The total budget is close to Rp 30 trillion, "said Sri Mulyani.