Working hand-in-hand with the four state banks: Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), the government has made changes to its scheme for supporting small businesses.
Under the new scheme the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have to work with a cooperative and a consultant from a non-governmental organisation. "The consultant will help the SME obtain bank loans as well as keep the enterprise on track and productive, while the cooperative will deal with marketing," said Gunawan.
The three will share the burden of unpaid debts.
The four banks have pledged to provide Rp 2 trillion throughout the year but only one tenth of it has been disbursed so far.
