KUR Distribution Slows Down, This is the Cause According to Economists

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Distribution of People’s Business Credit (KUR) is experiencing a slowdown. Even the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop) stated that it is possible that this year’s KUR realization target will not be achieved.

Executive Director of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Tauhid Ahmad assesses that there are several reasons for the slowdown in KUR distribution. First, the economic phenomenon, because credit in general is also weakening.

“Around 8-9 percent (credit growth) including MSMEs. So our economy’s purchasing power is going down, if purchasing power goes down, demand for credit will also go down,” explained Tauhid when met at the Ministry of Cooperatives Building in Jakarta, Tuesday (21/11/2023).

The second cause, he continued, was the impact of increasing interest rates. As is known, the trend in Bank Indonesia (BI)’s benchmark interest rate is rising. Third, he continued, in the midst of this economic downturn, the emergence of new entrepreneurs has decreased.

“We see that with digitalization, competition is getting stronger, so it’s not easy for people to try if digital prices are very low,” explained Tauhid.

He does not deny that there are several MSMEs that have succeeded in doing business via digital. It’s just not much, which causes slowdowns.

“We see that malls are closed and the Tanah Abang market is quiet, meaning the business sector is under pressure because of this situation. This is affecting demand for credit, including KUR,” he explained.

The final factor, continued Tauhid, is that the escalation in the business sector of KUR users, especially super micro, is relatively restrained. According to him, there are two causes for this condition, first because the market is limited and second because business actors do not want to move up in class.

For information, the KUR target or ceiling for 2023 is IDR 297 trillion. Meanwhile, the realization of KUR distribution until November 20 this year based on SIKP data was IDR 218.40 trillion or 73.54 percent of the target.

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