Minister for Cooperatives Requests Additional Rp1.34 Trillion to Support 80 Thousand Kopdes Merah Putih

Jakarta – Minister for Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono has proposed a supplementary budget of Rp1.34 trillion for the 2027 fiscal year to support the operations and development of cooperatives, particularly to accelerate the programme for 80 thousand Kopdes Merah Putih (Village/Sub-district Cooperatives). During a working meeting with House of Representatives Commission VI in Jakarta on Thursday, Ferry stated that the Ministry of Cooperatives received an indicative ceiling for 2027 of Rp542.89 billion, based on the Joint Indicative Ceiling Letter Number S228/MK.03/2026 and Number B385/D9.PP.04.03/05/2026 dated 7 May 2026. “We are proposing an additional budget for 2027 amounting to Rp1.34 trillion. Therefore, the total budget ceiling following the proposed addition will become Rp1.88 trillion,” Ferry said. He expressed hope that Commission VI of the House could support the proposal given the scale of challenges and the broad scope of programmes mandated to the Ministry of Cooperatives. According to Ferry, the additional budget is required to support national priority work programmes across more than 80 thousand Kopdes Merah Putih that have obtained legal entity status. “We recognise that the indicative ceiling set is not yet fully sufficient to meet the needs of the Ministry of Cooperatives in carrying out all programme mandates, especially to support the acceleration of operations for 80 thousand Kopdes Merah Putih and national cooperative development,” he stated. Ferry explained that the additional budget would be directed towards two major agendas: operationalising the organisations and strengthening and developing cooperatives. For organisational operations, the additional budget will be used to strengthen planning, monitoring and evaluation functions at both central and regional levels, human resource development, public communication and relations, infrastructure reinforcement, cooperative regulation, and internal oversight. The government is also proposing a budget for socialisation activities related to the Kopdes Merah Putih programme. Meanwhile, the minister explained that strengthening and developing cooperatives encompasses support for national priority programmes and presidential directives, increasing cooperative business capacity, reinforcing cooperative institutional and governance frameworks, enhancing the competence and competitiveness of cooperative human resources, and improving cooperative supervisory functions. A breakdown shows the Deputy for Cooperative Business Development submitted the largest additional budget request at Rp277.4 billion, intended for facilitating business potential mapping, production assistance, strengthening cooperative partnerships, and developing cluster-based business networks. The Deputy for Talent Development and Competitiveness requested an additional Rp267.04 billion for cooperative entrepreneurship development, competency enhancement for functional cooperative supervisory officials, extension services, and strengthening cooperative capital and financing. The Deputy for Institutional Affairs and Cooperative Digitalisation proposed an additional Rp234.49 billion for cooperative legal entity services, restructuring assistance for cooperatives, facilitating the digitalisation of Kopdes Merah Putih, and strengthening cooperative regulations. Previously, the indicative ceiling for the Ministry of Cooperatives for 2027 was set at Rp542.89 billion, comprising purely rupiah funds of Rp316.85 billion and the Public Service Agency for the Revolving Fund Management Institution for Cooperatives amounting to Rp226.04 billion.