Purwokerto, Central Java (ANTARA) - Bank Indonesia (BI) has continued to expand and strengthen micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) development programs through corporatization, capacity building, and enabling financial access to increase MSME competitiveness, Deputy Governor Doni Primanto Joewono has said.

"Corporatization is being done through institutional strengthening and expanding partnerships with other business actors to increase their economies of scale," he informed virtually during an international seminar organized by the Faculty of Economics and Business of Jenderal Soedirman University and the BI representative office, Purwokerto, here on Wednesday.

The seminar was themed "Empowering MSMEs' Productivity, Inclusive Growth, and Innovation in the Digital Era."

According to Joewono, the capacity of MSMEs is being built end-to-end, and the efforts are focused on digitalization to promote better production, financial management, and markets by expanding access.

The government is targeting to get 30 million MSMEs to enter the digital ecosystem by 2024 by cooperating with private parties for digital programs and technology training, he noted.

The programs run by BI are aimed at supporting national economic recovery through the strengthening of MSME digitalization, productivity, and innovation, Joewono said.

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The MSME products exhibition held since 2016 by the central bank with the theme “Karya Kreatif Indonesia (KKI)” showcases MSME flagship products and features various events aimed at increasing MSME capacity, he added.

In addition, BI is also pushing for MSME financial inclusion by adopting cashless transactions.

"The total transactions with QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) as of December 2021 reached Rp27.7 trillion, or up by 237 percent per year," he highlighted.

The BI deputy governor noted that the use of QRIS has continued to be promoted as a form of cashless transaction that is in accordance with the health protocols through the "SIAP QRIS" program, which has been carried out in markets and malls, including by improving the features so that it can be used more easily by people.

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Translator: Sumarwoto, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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