“Women in Indonesia play an important role, especially in small and medium enterprises. Meaning that 60 percent of our GDP depends on women," she noted at the side event of the 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) in Jakarta on Thursday.
The minister later remarked that of the 60 million small and medium enterprises in Indonesia, around 50 percent were owned by women at the micro level.
In detail, 56 percent of small businesses are owned by women, while on a medium scale, 34 percent are owned by women. This reality means the smaller the size of the company or economic activity, greater is the likelihood of it being owned by women.
Indrawati remarked that in Indonesia, small and medium enterprises could provide up to 67 percent of the jobs, which means women play an important role in creating jobs.
The government also has a national financial inclusion program, with a target of 90 percent of women being included in it by 2024, given that women's access to finance is still minimal.
Women still have limited access to financial institutions since from the total bank credit, only 18 percent of the credit was channeled to small and medium enterprises.
Hence, the government has assigned banks to channel their credit to small- and medium-sized businesses at a minimum level of 30 percent.
"This is still a challenge for some banks since they are not used to serving loans in small amounts, especially those owned by women," Indrawati remarked.
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Efforts to achieve financial inclusion for 90 percent of Indonesian women are also made through various programs, both in the form of education and financial literacy as well as creating access through digital technology, she pointed out.
The minister remarked that efforts so far to increase financial inclusion for women have been made in various forms, such as through the 10 million Family Hope Program (PKH).
"We hope that the program would create financial inclusion by allowing women to open bank accounts to receive transfers from the government," she concluded.
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Translator: Astrid Faidlatul H, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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