Jakarta – The government of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka continues to encourage strengthening the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector through easy access to financing.
The Financial Services Authority (OJK) is leading this initiative by utilizing Innovative Credit Scoring (ICS) technology to assess creditworthiness for MSMEs.
“Utilization of ICS is an alternative for banks to assess prospective debtors. This still takes into account risk appetite as a risk mitigation step in distributing credit or financing to MSMEs,” said the Chief Executive of OJK Banking Supervision, Dian Ediana Rae,
Dian explained that the ICS model must undergo periodic assessments to ensure the accuracy of the predicted values produced.
“Banks also need to conduct regular reviews so that the models used can provide accurate and reliable results,” he added.
As part of this strategic step, OJK will issue an OJK Regulation (POJK) which specifically regulates easy access to financing for MSMEs, including the use of ICS.
In addition, financial services institutions can also set special policies in the analysis of the feasibility of prospective MSME debtors if necessary.
“We hope this policy can encourage financing for MSMEs more optimally,” said Dian.
On the other hand, Deputy Minister of MSMEs, Helvi Y Moraza, emphasized the importance of digitalization to overcome the classic challenges faced by MSMEs, such as difficulties in accessing capital.
He also said that President Prabowo had prioritized strengthening capital and market access.
“MSMEs can no longer be pampered with conventional systems. Like it or not, they must enter the digitalization of the economy,” Helvi stressed.
Support for this policy also came from various parties. Founder and CEO of Hive Five, Sabar L. Tobing, emphasized the importance of mentoring to help MSMEs compete and grow.
“By having complete legality, MSMEs can more easily get access to financing. At Hive Five, we accompany them from licensing to financial management, so they can focus on business growth,” said Sabar.