Jakarta | Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Anak Agung Gede Ngurah Puspayoga stated that cooperatives' preparation to become distributors of the People's Business Credit (KUR) program is becoming more mature.
Minister Puspayoga, through a written statement, mentioned that he had asked his team to finalize the study regarding the proposal for cooperatives to be one of the non-bank institutions authorized to distribute KUR.
"If cooperatives become KUR implementers, it will be easier to provide credit to their members," said Minister Puspayoga.
Puspayoga is currently in Surabaya for the 2016 KUR distribution acceleration and entrepreneurship development socialization event.
According to him, several aspects need to be studied, including the possibility of cooperatives developing KUR linkage.
"This needs to be studied because the reality in the regions for accelerating KUR distribution is that, like it or not, it has to be done (involving cooperatives)," said Puspayoga.
His party is working to accelerate KUR absorption in 2016 to meet the minimum target of Rp 100 trillion by the end of the year.
Therefore, he emphasized that the involvement of cooperatives as KUR distributors will only be implemented this year in line with the government's desire to boost the performance of cooperatives and SMEs so that they can increase their productivity.
"This KUR acceleration is so that people can benefit from it and so that productivity continues to roll. If there isn’t any, then it won’t be good," said the Minister.
The former Deputy Governor of Bali stated that he would regularly conduct socialization to ensure KUR absorption meets the target.
He is optimistic that if the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector runs well, it can reduce unemployment, create more jobs, and distribute welfare more evenly.
"As an effort to accelerate KUR, I will travel across Indonesia like last year. Last year, it was only four months, which was too short. Now, with a one-year timeframe, I will continue to roadshow to the regions," he said.
Deputy for Financing at the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, Braman Setyo, said that the main requirement for cooperatives to become KUR distributors is that they must be institutionally sound.
Therefore, cooperatives are required to demonstrate their existence just like other financial institutions.
"That is one of the most fundamental requirements for cooperatives," said Braman.
Braman explained that cooperatives distributing KUR would still use their own capital and then receive subsidies from the government. Meanwhile, KUR funds will be distributed to active cooperative members.
"I think this business, apart from the savings and loan program, will certainly add value for cooperatives so that they can eventually be on par with other financial institutions," he added. (source: kontan.co.id)