In Solo, Central Java, on Tuesday, regional relations special staff at the ministry, Tina Talisa, told reporters that the 1.5 million NIBs were issued through the Risk-Based Online Single Submission (OSS) platform.
The platform was officially unveiled by President Joko Widodo in August 2021 as part of the implementation of the Job Creation Law.
The NIB issuance data aligns with data provided by the Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Ministry, which states that business units in Indonesia are dominated by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), whose number totals 65 million.
However, the number of MSE entrepreneurs who have received NIBs is still far lower than the total number of existing entrepreneurs.
Based on the OSS platform that has been utilized since 2018, the ministry/BKPM has issued four million NIBs. Meanwhile, through the Risk-Based OSS, the number of NIBs issued has reached 1.5 million.
"If we add all of them together, it only reaches 5.5 million NIBs. If 98 percent of them are MSE entrepreneurs, that means there are only 5 million MSEs," she explained.
"This means there are 60 million other MSEs that do not yet have NIBs," she pointed out.
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While there is no special target for NIB issuance, the current achievement shows that there is still a gap between MSE entrepreneur data with the number of issued NIBs, Talisa noted.
Thus, efforts need to be made to expedite NIB issuance, she added.
If, for example, the government seeks to encourage all 60 million MSEs to become formal businesses within six years, that means that 10 million NIBs will need to be issued annually, she said.
This will certainly not be an easy task, but it can be done gradually. If 1.5 million NIBs were issued this year, then next year, the number can be raised to 3 million, she added.
Talisa said she expects that, in the future, NIBs would become popular as identity card numbers (NIK) for businessmen.
The existence of NIBs is not merely to fulfill MSEs' obligation but also to truly help them with their businesses.
The government is continuing its efforts to improve the quality of MSEs , including by encouraging business legality through NIB issuance.
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Translator: Ade Irma Junida, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Suharto
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