Pediafx-Thus, there is almost no difference between urban and rural areas in terms of financial inclusion and level of financial literacy
Jakarta (ANTARA) – Bank Indonesia (BI) conveyed a number of efforts being made to increase the economic and financial inclusion of people in urban and rural areas.
“So, we are developing projects to promote economic and financial inclusion in rural and urban areas,” said the Head of the Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development and Consumer Protection of Bank Indonesia YunitaOfficial Sari at the OJK Seminar on Economic Inclusion held by Bank Indonesia, Jakarta , Thursday.
In a seminar held as part of a series of events for the Minister of Finance and Central Bank Governors Meeting (AFMGM), Yunita said that the gap between the level of inclusion and the level of financial literacy in urban and rural areas is very small.
“So, there is almost no difference between urban and rural areas in terms of financial inclusion and level of financial literacy,” he said.
However, when distinguished from one province to another, there is a large gap between the province with the highest level of financial inclusion and the province with the lowest level of financial inclusion.
This can be seen from the use of the QRIS payment method in Indonesia, which has reached around 36 million. If differentiated by region, Java Island is recorded as dominating the use of QRIS as a whole.
Meanwhile, a global survey in 2021 shows that 70 percent of adults in Indonesia do not have a bank account because they do not have enough money to save.
“They don’t have money, therefore they don’t have a bank account,” said Yunita.
Therefore, to promote financial inclusion, the steps taken by Bank Indonesia are to empower communities so that they become economically inclusive.
To empower the community, Bank Indonesia cooperates with academics and NGOs so that they become facilitators to assess the economic potential that exists in the community. In addition, Bank Indonesia also facilitated capacity building.
After the community has succeeded in creating their own economic activities, Bank Indonesia will help provide access for the community to enter the market, both conventional, retail and digital markets.
BI also facilitates access to financial services, in addition to conducting monitoring and evaluation, including evaluating economic activity as reflected in the level of sales and turnover of the community groups they empower.
Through this community empowerment project, Bank Indonesia noted that 100 percent of the community groups they empowered had their own business activities and sold their products to e-commerce. Their income has also significantly increased.
