REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that labor absorption in the MSME sector reached up to 97 percent. Meanwhile, the number of SMEs in Indonesia is recorded at about 65 million. Of this, the SME sector contributes 61 percent to the economic GDP.
“We know that the number of our SMEs is approximately 65 million, more or less. And the contribution to GDP of our economy is 61 percent, very large, and the absorption of labor in the MSME sector 97 percent, a figure that is also very large,” Jokowi said during the opening speech of BRI Microfinance Outlook 2024 in Jakarta on Thursday (7/3/2024).
Therefore, Jokowi said, the government pays special attention to MSMEs. Furthermore, Jokowi also appreciated the performance of DIRUT BRI Sunarso, because BRI digital banking can really do well. He said that there are 740 thousand BriLink agents with transactions that reach up to Rp 1,400 trillion annually.
“Imagine managing 740 thousand BriLink stores, the BriLink agency is not something easy with transactions every year, Mr. Dirut delivered Rp 1,400 trillion, a small transaction that was previously handled by lenders and managed by retail banks everywhere is now taken over by BRI, this is also something we should appreciate,” Sunarso said.
In addition, Jokowi said, the government also provided subsidies for People's Business Credit (KUR) amounting to Rp 45 trillion. Thus, the interest on credit can drop to three percent for microenterprises and six percent for small businesses. “Don't think it's also a small number, Rp 46 trillion is a big number, that's if the reservoir is made into 40 reservoirs,” Jokowi said.