A reliable system and integrated data are required to make the business advancement attempts accountable.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The provision of lending to the ultramicro economic sector can advance small business actors and encourage financial inclusion, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, has said.

“The government has provided a number of cash assistance to meet the needs of financial services for the ultramicro economic sector," he said at the '2022 Microfinance Outlook' event organized by state-owned PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that efforts for advancing ultramicro business actors should be strengthened through integrated system and data management.

“A reliable system and integrated data are required to make the business advancement attempts accountable. If the integration runs well, the attempts can also reach the ultramicro business players who are not eligible to apply for business loans (unbankable clients)," she explained.

According to data from the BRI Research Institute, there are 45 million ultramicro business actors in Indonesia, she noted. However, 30 million of them have not received any formal financial services, she pointed out.

Hence, the Finance Minister said she has asked the state-owned ultramicro financing holding formed on September 13, 2021, to optimize the potential of the economic sector.

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The establishment of the holding has provided a number of efficiencies, such as a decrease in the BRI Group's cost of funds, Indrawati said.

Ultramicro business empowerment also has the potential to increase employment -- in accordance with the Finance Ministry’s target of financing 29 million ultramicro businesses by 2024 to improve people’s welfare and reduce poverty, she added.

Furthermore, Second Deputy Minister of State-owned Enterprises (SOEs), Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, emphasized the importance of data integration to ensure that the implementation of the ultramicro holding’s strategy is on the right track.

“Furthermore, in addition to providing lending, BRI Group also empowers ultramicro business players to make their businesses sustainable," he added.

Meanwhile, BRI president director Sunarso assured that data integration and the development of the ultramicro holding ecosystem have been adequate.

In addition, the holding has strong liquidity and capital to expand the ultramicro economic sector, he added.
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Translator: Kuntum Riswan, Uyu Liman
Editor: Suharto
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