The government is set to kick off the Year of the Micro Business and will allocate Rp 50 trillion (US$5.4bn) to empower micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) nationwide, a minister says.
"The official announcement on the national campaign will be made by president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono," Coordinating minister for the economy Aburizal Bakrie said.
Aburizal said 99.9 per cent of the 42 million businesses across the country were either micro, small or medium enterprises.
The government hoped the fund, which was created in line with a United Nations-led programme for small businesses, could help reduce the poverty rate from 16.6 per cent to a target of 8.2 per cent and the unemployment rate from 9.7 per cent to 5.1 per cent.
