Multifinance Industry In Indonesia Can Still Grow Amid Pandemic

Illustrated. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Corona Virus Disease 2019 pandemic or COVID19 as we all know has restructured all elements of the economy in the world, including in Indonesia. With changing conditions and community activities in line with the pandemic, various industrial sectors that support the performance of the national economy are inevitably affected.

The Financial Services Industry (IJK), as the backbone of domestic economic activity, has been under constant pressure so far, demanding that industry players be able to survive with a variety of strategies and innovations. No exception in the multi industry.

The Financial Services Authority (OJK) noted that amidst the various pressures that came, the performance of the domestic multi-finance industry was still able to survive at a value of Rp. 518 trillion, or posted a growth of almost 3 percent compared to the previous year.

"This is clearly an achievement that should be appreciated, although we also know that the challenges ahead are still very heavy. We hope that in the second quarter of next year the economy can grow back around 4.5 percent. From here, we all also need support from various industrial sectors. including from the multi-finance industry as a bounceback so that the economy can recover again, "said President Commissioner and founder of Warta Ekonomi, Fadel Muhammad, in a written statement received by VOI, Friday, October 30.

Chairman of the Indonesian Finance Companies Association (APPI), Suwandi Wiratno, also expressed his optimism about the potential and ability of the multi-finance industry to withstand the pressure of this pandemic. Suwandi stated that based on the association's records as of August 2020, the value of national financing receivables was minus 12.86 percent.

Then investment financing, which also contributed significantly to industry performance, was still minus 12.24 percent. Meanwhile, the decline in multipurpose financing was slightly larger, reaching 13.4 percent.

"On the other hand, we can see that national sales of cars and motorbikes have also dropped drastically, even touching 10 percent compared to the normal average value before the pandemic. Meanwhile, we know, like it or not, the fact is that our financing industry is still 65 percent dependent on it. sales of motor vehicles, "said Suwandi.

However, Suwandi emphasized that the national multi-industry players are still optimistic in seeing opportunities for improvement in 2021. As stated by many economists, it is estimated that in the next year the national economy will be able to grow by around 4.5 to 5 percent.

From this assumption, the performance of the multi-finance industry, called Suwandi, can still be expected to also grow by around 6-7 percent throughout 2021.

"We are fully confident that after all this condition we must go through and face together. We from the association are also confident that finance companies with healthy performance growth will continue to be present in society and take part in making the national economy continue to run better, "said Suwandi.