In the first stage, the number of MSMEs receiving the productive aid will be 9.1 million, the number will increase to 12 million, and later move up to 15 million.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government will provide Rp2.4 million in cash assistance to each of 15 million micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs), as part of efforts to help revive their businesses in the wake of COVID-19.

"In the first stage, the number of MSMEs receiving the productive aid will be 9.1 million, the number will increase to 12 million, and later move up to 15 million," expert staff for state spending at the Finance Ministry, Kunta Wibawa Dasa Nugraha, said at a webinar on ‘Prospects for Economy Recovery in the Small and Medium Industrial Sector’ here on Tuesday.


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The budget funds extended to the 9.1 million MSMEs in the first stage will total Rp22.01 trillion, he informed.

Nearly Rp6.6 trillion of the budget fund has been transferred to 6 million MSMEs through state-owned lenders Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), he added.

The productive assistance for MSMEs amounts to Rp2.4 million for each ultramicro or micro business that is not in the middle of receiving bank loans, Nugraha said.

The assistance is aimed at reviving economic activities of micro and ultramicro businesses.

MSMEs are among those bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has empowered export-oriented micro-, small-, and medium-scale enterprises (MSME) to step up their contribution in boosting the country's economic growth impacted by disruptions arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"MSME play an important role. Hence, the government is seriously endeavoring to help improve MSME," Director General of Funding and Risk Management of the ministry Luky Alfriman stated during an online discussion here on Tuesday.

Alfriman highlighted the multiplier effect of empowering export-oriented MSMEs in the form of job creation and increasing the gross domestic product (GDP).

"Do not forget that we are also talking about equalization here, and this is among the benefits to empowering MSMEs," he remarked. (INE)


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Translator: Sella PG/Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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