Sri Mulyani Says 50 Percent of Micro Businesses Owned by Women
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17 March 2022 08:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the amount of credit flow to MSMEs, especially those owned by women, was still low because banks are still not used to serving their needs.
“This is somewhat challenging for many banks because they are not used to serving MSMEs owned by women,” said Sri at the online side event of the Sixty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 66) on financial inclusion and women MSMEs in Jakarta, Wednesday, March 16.
She outlined that only 18 percent of the total credit disbursed by banks was channeled to MSMEs. While in fact, 50 percent of micro-enterprises are owned by women, and 34 percent of medium-scale businesses are owned by women.
“The smaller the business scale, the more likely the owner is a woman,” she remarked.
According to Sri, women play a vital role in creating job opportunities since MSMEs contributed 60 percent to job availability. “Our GDP also relies heavily on women,” she emphasized.
Thus, Sri argued that it is fundamental for women to have access to financial institutions.
The government through the Finance Ministry, she went on, had disbursed micro-credit (KUR) program provided by banks with subsidies in the form of interest rates.
“In the last three years, due to the pandemic, we have expanded it quite significantly, from Rp200 trillion to almost Rp370 trillion now,” the minister said.
Sri Mulyani hoped that through this credit distribution, women will have greater access to financial institutions.
Read: Sri Mulyani Optimistic on Post-pandemic Economic Recovery
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