Supporting the Aceh Economy, BSI Gets the Task of Spreading IDR 3 Trillion KUR This Year

Illustration of Rupiah (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir, assigned Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) to distribute People's Business Credit (KUR) worth IDR 3 trillion for the Aceh Province region.

Erick said, the efforts of the Ministry of SOEs through a state-owned company, in this case, BSI, to encourage sharia economic growth in Aceh are in line with the directions given by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"By President Jokowi's directives, BSI will also distribute KUR worth IDR 3 trillion in the Aceh region this year. We will increase this number in 2024 so that society can achieve economic equality", Erick wrote on his Instagram social media account @erickthohir, quoted Sunday, February 12.

Erick sees this as a form of BSI's commitment to continue to improve and encourage the wheels of the economy in Aceh Province, especially the MSME sector.

Meanwhile, President Jokowi reminded Erick Thohir and the ranks of state-owned companies that distribute KUR not to give very large amounts at the start.

He said the provision of KUR must be increased gradually. Jokowi made an analogy of it like the level of education starting from elementary school (SD) to tertiary education.

"Don't be surprised, the first BSI immediately got IDR 500 million, this is dangerous. What's good is going up a grade, from elementary, junior high, junior high, university later on S1, S2, and S3, the roots are strong. Why do I tell stories like this? I have a problem. I first borrowed IDR 10 million, the second IDR 30 million and continued to increase", said Jokowi.

Previously, Jokowi said, the economy in Aceh Province had started to show positive growth after contracting minus 0.37 per cent in 2020. It was noted that the economy in this region grew positively by 4.21 per cent in 2022.

This growth must continue to be supported by strengthening people's productivity, especially in the agricultural and MSME sectors as the backbone of the Indonesian economy.

Now BSI, said Jokowi, for the whole country, gets an allocation of IDR 14 trillion for KUR financing, divided by 38 provinces, and Aceh gets IDR 3 trillion for KUR.

"The potential in Aceh is very large in terms of trade, fisheries, agriculture, and plantations, all in Aceh. Recently the industry was inaugurated in Arun Lhokseumawe, PT PIM, we are opening again with an investment of IDR 1.7 trillion. It will open up as many jobs as possible", said Jokowi.

Meanwhile, BSI President Director Hery Gunardi said that KUR distribution would increase every year. Both in terms of distribution and the number of beneficiaries.

In Aceh Province, Hery said that his party had a positive record in distributing one of the government's stimulus programs to the MSME sector. Until last December 2022, the distribution of KUR BSI Region I Aceh reached IDR 2.79 trillion or an increase of IDR 1.19 trillion on an annual basis.

The number of KUR recipients has also increased from 30,943 customers in 2021 to 39,872 customers at the end of 2022 or an additional 8,929 customers.

Not only distributing KUR, the Ministry of SOEs also supports digitization in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers by launching the Digital Farmer's Card for Subsidized Fertilizers.

"PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) in collaboration with BSI launched the Digital Farmer's Card so that the allocation of subsidized fertilizers can be ensured and transparent in its distribution. This is part of ensuring that farmers in Aceh get a good income", he said.