The government has disbursed Rp68.35 trillion in budget funds for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and corporations under the national economic recovery (PEN) program as of September 17, 2021, a Finance Ministry official has said.

The disbursed funds account for 42 percent of the total PEN budget fund of Rp162 trillion for MSMEs and corporations for 2021, the ministry’s expert staff for financial services and capital markets, Suminto, said on Wednesday.

“The government has implemented various programs to support MSMEs through fund placement at banks, among others,” he observed during a webinar on ‘Pushing BPR (Smallholder Credit Banks) to Rescue MSMEs’, accessed from Jakarta on Wednesday.

The government has placed funds in banks to provide liquidity support for the banking sector and drive the distribution of new working capital credit to business agents, he said. As of September 17, 2021, about 5.38 million debtors have benefited from the program, he informed.

In addition, the government has also offered a financing program for ultra micro businesses, he said. Until April 2021, about 800 thousand debtors have benefited from the facility, Suminto added.

It has also provided interest subsidies to MSMEs. Nearly 10.5 million MSMEs have benefited from the facility as of September 17, he added.

“The government also guarantees credit both for MSMEs and non-MSME units. The amount of credit collateral for non-MSMEs in 2020 reached 0.9 million debtors and 2.1 million debtors until September 17, 2021,” Suminto said.

Source: Antara News