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The 20th Asian Credit Supplementation Institution
Confederation (ACSIC) conference opened Tuesday with Indonesian
participants asking the government for a stronger legal basis for the
SME credit insurance industry.
"We urge the government to soon draw up the law on credit insurance and
financing firms, as well as a regulation package on re-guarantors.
"This is crucial so that we can reach out to more SMEs in the country,"
Krisnaraga Syarfuan, president of PT Penjamin Kredit Pengusaha
Indonesia (PKPI), a privately owned credit guarantor, said in Nusa Dua,
Bali, on the first day of the two-day event.
PKPI is one the three Indonesia companies hosting the annual event,
where SME credit insurance providers in Asia get together and share
experiences to enhance the industry.
The other two are state-owned PT Asuransi Kredit Indonesia (Askrindo)
and Perum Sarana Pengembangan Usaha (SPU).
"Credit insurance institutions in Indonesia dream of such a law. In
developed countries such as Japan and South Korea, this industry is
prospering.
"This is because they have the full support of their governments, which
say that for SMEs to become bankable and secure bank loans, there has
to be a committed credit insurance industry," SPU president Nahid
Hudaya said.
As many as 94 participants from 11 countries and 16 regional
institutions are taking part in the event, according to the organizing
committee.
The conference forms part of efforts by the country to speed up the
development of its SME sector, which despite its huge contribution to
the economy has been plagued by such classic problems as limited access
to financing.
The latest data show that over 99 percent of the country's businesses
are SMEs. In 2006, the sector provided jobs to over 96 percent of the
nation's total 85.6 million strong workforce.
On Monday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officially kicked off an
SME empowerment program, in which the government is providing Rp 1.45
trillion (Some US$150 million) to be used to guarantee credit extended
by banks to SMEs in the next three years.
Askrindo and SPU have been appointed as the executors of the program,
which is expected to help secure an average bank credit of Rp 25
million for around 580,000 small and medium businesses in the country.
"This is a strategic program. It will enhance the capability of credit
guarantors such as ourselves, which will eventually strengthen the SME
sector," Askrindo president, Chairul Bahri, said in Bali.
Chairul said through the event, Indonesian players could learn a lot
from their relatively more experienced and more successful regional
peers.
So far, Askrindo and SPU have guaranteed a combined Rp 130 trillion of
bank credit to be disbursed to around 7.7 million SMEs. The country
boasts over 48 million SMEs.
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