Government to Start Repaying Kopdes Loans to State Banks in September

The government will begin paying the instalments for the Koperasi Desa (Kopdes) Merah Putih loans to state-owned banks (Himbara) starting in September 2026. Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan (Zulhas) stated that the first due date for the payments falls in that month. “After the verification is submitted to the BPKP, the payment can be made by the Minister of Finance. The Minister of Finance will then transfer the funds to Himbara, with the due date in September,” Zulhas said at the State Palace. Kopdes is known to have received credit facilities from state-owned banks, with a model loan amount of up to Rp 3 billion per outlet. The loan instalment payments will utilise the state budget (APBN), specifically through the Village Fund budget. This was previously confirmed by Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa. He has also issued a warning regarding the use of the Kopdes capital, stating that the initial capital could be used for infrastructure development and cooperative operations. He noted that Rp 3 billion is a substantial amount of capital to build a cooperative outlet, so the money should not be spent solely on construction. “It shouldn’t be just for construction; there should also be some for operations. They are borrowing quite a lot from the bank, so I leave it to them. But to me, the capital seems sufficient because the amount taken from the bank is quite large. There is some that hasn’t been used yet, so it should be for additional operations if needed,” Purbaya explained at the Presidential Palace Complex in Central Jakarta.