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)