VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati. (ANTARA PHOTO/Sigid Kurniawan/POOL/foc/aa./sh)

The Indonesian government will distribute productive assistance of Rp2.4 million per person to 13 million operators of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) in August, 2020, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.  

“We are planning to disburse the aid using the data gleaned in August. Maybe on August 17, 2020 or later, (the aid program will be launched) by the President or a minister,” Indrawati said at an online discussion here on Tuesday.

The minister said aid disbursement has been a challenge in terms of data collection, especially when it comes to unbankable MSMEs.

Micro financing units UMi and Mekaar have pegged the number of MSMEs at six million and two million, respectively, while state pawnshop firm, PT Pegadaian, has recorded four million MSMEs, and 1.5 million cooperative units.

“We have allocated Rp28.8 trillion of budget, and now, we are in the process of data collection and verification,” the minister added.

The minister admitted that the data obtained from the Social Affairs Ministry did not match the real conditions in the field as it had not been updated since 2015.

“Not all local governments updated the data until we had this COVID-19 crisis in 2020. We need the latest data,” she said.

The government needs to update the data so that social assistance is on target.

"The aid program will be audited by an external auditor, such as BPK (State Audit Agency)," Indrawati noted.

In addition, updating of data is necessary to avoid uneven distribution of aid, which could spark a public reaction, she said. (ANTARA)