ICMI manages village funds

ICMI manages village funds

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: The Indonesian Association of Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) has started a pilot project for the management of government aid for impoverished villages, Antara reported.

"Through the Baituttamwil (a special agency which manages financial matters based on Islamic law), ICMI will see to it that the funds are used for productive purposes," said Amin Azis from ICMI's central office.

Under the aid program, each of Indonesia's villages falling within the "least-developed" category are entitled to Rp 20 million to start businesses.

Amin said that presently 50 Baituttamwil agencies have been established, especially, to help small-scale businesses whose capital is less than Rp 1 million.

Aceh has 2,275 villages categorized as "least-developed", which represents 40 percent of the total number of villages in the province.(pwn)