Jakarta, 12 My 2022 -- Indonesia holds the G20 presidency while carrying a critical role as well as strategic value to accelerate economic performance after the pandemic period and the challenges faced by various countries in the world.
The state's efforts to use all its instruments, including state-owned banks, are seen as very critical, especially in supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which are the backbone of the Indonesian economy.
Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki hopes that MSME players are not only seen as players or an informal segment. Instead, they can become a formal sector for their contributions to the economy, he invites to also strengthen various collaborations for MSMEs and collaboration between parties.
"Seeing that 97 percent of the jobs are provided by MSMEs, so how can the government not see MSMEs as just an economic bumper, we cannot just wait for the formal sector to grow, but change the paradigm so that we can strengthen existing MSMEs," he said at the Tempo BNI Bilateral Forum 2022 at Langham Hotel Ballroom, Jakarta, on Thursday (12/5/2022).
Teten continued, it is also necessary how MSME players are able to produce quality jobs, therefore it is so important to strengthen these MSMEs. One of them is strengthening the production sector for this segment, such as in the food, agriculture, fisheries and livestock sectors of the Republic of Indonesia.
“Now we want to encourage the real sector or production, because so far 63.3 percent is still in the trade sector so that our production sector is not strong enough. We are developing a small farmer corporatization business model, which is to consolidate individual small farmers and small fishermen who are incorporated into cooperatives so that they enter into economies of scale," he explained.
On this occasion, BNI MSME Business Director Muhammad Iqbal pointed out that in the midst of a pandemic, PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. or BNI (stock code: BBNI) has succeeded in focusing on helping MSMEs and making achievements.
Throughout the first quarter of 2021, BNI's MSME loan portfolio grew positively by Rp. 115.3 trillion, which touched 414,444 MSME players. As for the growth is driven by the recovery of the Indonesian economy after the pandemic.
This further shows that BNI is focused on financing MSMEs in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the future BNI will support MSME actors to be more productive through mentoring MSMEs and sustainable financing support.
Meanwhile, the proportion of BNI MSME loans as of October 2021 was dominated by the small credit segment, which was 63.7% or Rp. 73.7 trillion, this was followed by the medium segment at 35.6% or Rp. % or Rp 0.9 trillion.
He conveyed, BNI really believes in the capacity of the country's MSME players, which are currently growing.
"We also provide Xpora Training & Financing to support MSMEs so that they are more familiar with exports, especially since international trade is growing, this makes BNI confident," he said.
At the forum which was held offline with health protocol, Iqbal explained that BNI MSME Credit managed to contribute 10.3% of the total National MSME Credit as of October 2021 related to market share. This makes MSMEs another important issue that must also be given attention in the G20 Presidency.
This was confirmed by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, who was also present to enliven the Tempo BNI Bilateral Forum 2022.
"I thank the Tempo BNI Bilateral Forum 2022 today. The government continues to strengthen MSME participation in the digital economy ecosystem by facilitating licensing, fiscal/tax incentives, market access, financing, training, mentoring, and access to raw materials supported by creating a fair playing field," he said.