Medan, The Indonesia Post – The Governor of West Java (West Java) Ridwan Kamil said that the Bank of West Java and Banten (BJB) through the Prosperous Economic Community (Mesra) credit program was a solution to overcoming loan sharks in Medan City, North Sumatra (North Sumatra).
“Bank BJB has a product that can help middle-class citizens borrow money without interest rates, without collateral,” said Ridwan Kamil at the BJB Mesrakan Medan event, at Medan Fortress Field, North Sumatra, Wednesday.
The requirements, he said again, were very simple, that is, they had to be in groups of five to 10 people, then pray diligently because this credit distribution was based on Pancasila.
For Christians to go to church, while for Muslims to go to the mosque, and so on, so that they get recommendations from the administrators of the local house of worship.
Ridwan, who is also the former Mayor of Bandung, West Java, also said that this credit provision was intended to be used as business capital for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
“Returning from the house of worship can get help. From Rp. 500 thousand to Rp. 5 million. So if there are 10 people, Rp. 5 million each, they can get a loan of Rp. 50 million. For the lowest credit, yes,” he said.
He said that the West Java Provincial Government does not want the Indonesian people to become victims of moneylenders who are now moving digital to become illegal online loans (pinjol).
“In the past, they were intimidated by debt collectors, now they are digitally intimidated. Their humiliated faces are sent everywhere. So, this is the solution,” he said.
The Governor of West Java said that thousands of people have benefited in dozens of districts/cities throughout Indonesia through Bank BJB branches.
He also revealed that the program’s bad loans were recorded at 1.3 percent by the end of this year, so his party asked the mass media to expand this information, especially in North Sumatra.
Data from the West Java Province Cooperatives and Small Business Service at the end of last year indicated that since 2018 the BJB Mesra credit program had reached three provinces, namely West Java, Banten and Bali.
The BJB Mesra credit program has been distributed in 397 sub-districts with a total of 1,188 sub-districts or villages in West Java, Bali and Banten.
“This is what makes West Java’s poverty rate drop the highest in Indonesia in 2022, one of which is this extraordinary innovation,” said the Governor of West Java again. (mhn/bbs)
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