Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) aims to fully restore flood-affected businesses across three Sumatra provinces within one year through a specialised recovery initiative launched recently.
According to MSME Minister Maman Abdurrahman, the initiative, called the “Bangkit MSME Clinic,” is being implemented to support businesses in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, the areas most severely affected by prolonged natural disasters. The programme will conduct comprehensive mapping of affected businesses through March as a basis for implementing appropriate support packages. Key support measures include debt restructuring, reduced bank loan obligations, new funding, and flexible financial assistance, directly coordinated by local governments.
The clinic is tasked with ensuring that affected businesses have access to the necessary capital to quickly resume production and business operations, Abdurrahman emphasised.
The programme will operate out of eight locations across Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, namely Banda Aceh, Pidie, North Aceh, Aceh Tamiang, Pidie Jaya, Medan, Central Tapanuli, and Padang.
Beyond financial relief, the clinics will provide production equipment to help stalled businesses resume operations and will serve as hubs to market local products to wider audiences.
The minister affirmed that protecting and restoring MSMEs is a top priority in the post-disaster economic recovery strategy. The ministry also plans to work closely with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) to ensure a systematic and comprehensive support response , he said, adding that financial institutions are developing strategies to build appropriate credit support mechanisms for businesses.
Director of Finance and Information Technology at Bank Sumut, Arieta Aryanti, stated that as of the end of November, 339 MSMEs in North Sumatra had been identified as having borrowed capital affected by the natural disaster.
In Aceh Tamiang, recovery measures have already been implemented on the ground. The government has reactivated the Kuala Simpang Morning Market and erected 140 relief tents as temporary stalls for small traders, with plans to add another 200 tents to accommodate more vendors./.
