The Government Selects Strengthening The MSME Sector In 2023 Amid The Suramness Of Global Prospects

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA President Joko Widodo stated that the economic challenges that will be faced in the future are not easy.

According to him, this situation will not only be experienced by Indonesia, but also at the world level.

"Indonesia and the world are still haunted by the COVID-19 pandemic, they are still haunted by global economic uncertainty, geopolitical uncertain situations that can trigger financial crises, energy crises, food crises, and run away in a global recession," he said at the Cluster People's Business Credit (KUR) Submission Event at the State Palace, Monday, December 19.

Jokowi revealed that although the situation was considered more dynamic in 2023, Indonesia still showed good resilience. This is reflected in economic growth above 5 percent in the fourth quarter in a row.

Not to mention the inflation rate which is classified as quite under control at 5.4 percent.

"There are opportunities like this even though the world is difficult, Indonesia still has opportunities to grow and most importantly growth can maintain people's purchasing power, open up the widest possible employment opportunities, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are also still moving quickly," he said.

The head of state also said that one way to keep purchasing power and the economy growing positively is to continue to strengthen MSMEs.

Jokowi said, MSMEs have proven to be the driving force for Indonesia's economic growth.

He explained that efforts to strengthen the people's business sector were realized through the Madani National Capital to Develop a Prosperous Family Economy (PNM Mekaar).

Just so you know, based on the results of the President's conversation with the President Director of PNM Mekaar, the growth of customers who take advantage of this facility has increased. Of the 500,000 people in 2016, it has now reached 13.5 million people in the 2022 period.

Don't let opinions say the government doesn't pay attention to the micro, the small ones. It's a huge mistake. Of the 500,000 now, 13.5 million (debtors) and my target to enter 2024 is above 20 million (debtors)," he said.

The President said that the number of PNM Mekaar borrowers was almost 90 percent carried out by MSMEs managed by housewives for productive business needs. For example, it is used for selling fried foods, selling noodles, or selling in the market. "If you can enter PNM Mekaar, graduate from there, good, go up to KUR. This means that later it will be pushed to BRI, pushed to BNI so that the credit ceiling can be bigger. Surely from a total of 13.5 million, there must be hundreds of thousands who can advance to class every year," he explained.

In addition, the government's attention is also given to MSMEs through KUR. Currently, a total of 39.4 million MSMEs are taking advantage of this.

This ecosystem-based financing program will be very good and connect business groups with aggregator, aggregator, and consolidation models with buyers' guarantors or off takers. We hope that we can really absorb the most goods from existing groups and obtain market certainty, reduce the risk of business financing credit and from KUR channeling institutions, especially banks," concluded President Jokowi.