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MICRO FINANCE - DAVOS. The CEO of PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI), attended the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, Switzerland, 15-19 January 2024. In this event, Sunarso focused on discussing the empowerment of ultra micro and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Sunarso stated that BRI plays a role in empowering ultra micro groups and MSMEs in line with the role of this red plate bank to create economic and social value. "BRI has proven that it can play the role of economic value and social value simultaneously," he said to reporters via a video call, yesterday.
The bank, which listed its shares on the stock exchange with the code BBRI, performs this role among others through the Ultra Micro Holding, which consists of BRI, Pegadaian and PNM. As of December 2023, the Ultra Micro Holding recorded having 37 million integrated borrower customers.
The establishment of this Ultra Micro Holding is claimed to be able to reduce the number of customers who have not yet accessed formal finance.
The BRI Research Institute estimates that the ultra micro business that has not yet received formal financing has decreased from 30 million in 2018 to about 14 million in 2023.
According to the BRI Research Institute's estimate, of the customers who have not yet received formal financing, about 3 million-6 million of them are still unserved. Then about 4 million-5 million others received financing from friends or family, and about 3 million-5 million others from loan sharks.
The empowerment of ultra micro and MSMEs is in line with one of the agendas promoted by WEF 2024, namely the creation of economic growth and jobs, or creating growth and jobs for a new era. Sunarso revealed that there are three WEF Davos agendas that align with BRI's role.
In addition to the agenda of creating growth and jobs, Sunarso mentioned the WEF agenda about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability related to climate change and energy also aligns with what BRI has been doing so far.
