20 Million MSMEs Have Not Been Accessed By Banking Access

Indonesian Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Teten Masduki. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises, Teten Masduki, said that there are 20 million UMKM (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) players who have not been touched by bank financing. For this reason, he invited MSME players who have not been registered as banking debtors to immediately apply for financing to protect their business from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"From our data there are still 20 million UKMMs that have not been touched by banks. Now, if they apply for credit, they can get installment relief facilities to deduct income tax," he said in an online discussion. -19 ", Tuesday May 19.

He said, UKMM players who have just accessed bank financing at this time will get the same treatment as MSME debtors who get light and relaxed tax payments. According to Teten, the MSMEs that have had access to banks, financial institutions and the like have reached 60.6 million.

"That means those with credit portfolios below Rp. 10 billion and the majority under Rp. 500 million in accordance with the provisions of KUR," he said.

As of Sunday 10 May 2020, total banking credit for MSMEs has reached IDR 336.97 trillion. The total credit comes from 3.88 million debtors who have been successfully restructured. Most of them were MSME loans, amounting to Rp. 167.1 trillion from 3.42 million debtors.

Chief Economist of PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BNI), Ryan Kiryanto said, actually there is an opportunity for MSMEs this year to survive. This is in line with the issuance of government and OJK policies that provide a lot of relief and concessions to MSME players, especially those affected by COVID-19.

"Liquidity assistance, tax relief, postponement of payment of obligations to banks in accordance with POJK 11/2020 can certainly ease their financial burden," said Ryan.

But he continued, what is more important in the future is how the government can help MSMEs with new normal conditions, so that they will not stutter or be shocked when there are many changes after COVID-19.

"Training on production, marketing and accounting techniques using digital tools must have been introduced to them (MSMEs), because consumer behavior changes with the new normal situation (The New Normal)," he explained.

He added that the government plans to provide an interest subsidy of IDR 34.15 trillion to support MSMEs through the UMKM credit stimulus program. The subsidy is planned to be given to 60.66 million accounts of MSME players.