OJK: Most Indonesians are Financially Illiterate
25 August 2014 07:56 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Deputy Commissioner of Education and Consumer Protection Division of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) Sri Rahayu Widodo said financial literary index among Indonesians is still low.
"Financial literary among Indonesian people is only 21.7 percent,” said Sri Rahayu on Saturday, August 23, 2014.
The 2013 OJK survey showed that the financial literacy index among Indonesians to financial products and services is still lower than those of their South East Asian counterparts.
Financial literacy rate in the Philippines currently reaches more than 30 percent, while financial literary rate in Malaysia has reached more than 60 to 70 percent. Singaporean’ literacy index has even reached 98 percent.
Sri Rahayu admitted that OJK plays an important role to improve financial literacy in Indonesia.
She added that people’s knowledge about financial issues is important so that explanations about financial products or services can be accurate, honest, clear and will not be misleading for consumers and prospective consumers.
However, OJK was aware that efforts to improve financial literacy rate cannot be done by OJK alone as an institution monitoring financial services but cooperation among regulators, financial service players, and ministries, such as Finance Ministry and Education Ministry is needed in order to improve Indonesians’ literacy rate index.
MAYA NAWANGWULAN