To boost financial inclusion, Prabowo orders every citizen to have a bank account
Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Prabowo Subianto, during a limited meeting at the Presidential Palace of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta on Monday, ordered his cabinet to ensure that every Indonesian citizen has a bank account in order to strengthen financial inclusion and the level of financial literacy in the country.
The limited meeting at the Palace on Monday afternoon discussed a number of economic issues, one of which concerned the financial inclusion and literacy of the Indonesian population.
“Earlier, the discussion with the President concerned bank account ownership among Indonesian citizens or society. Based on surveys and censuses conducted by the OJK and BPS, our financial inclusion rate has reached 93.62 per cent. Meanwhile, financial literacy stands at 63.57 per cent,” said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, explaining the contents of the meeting at a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday.
According to Airlangga, these figures are relatively good compared with the achievements of other OECD countries. Therefore, Airlangga said, President Prabowo ordered the Himbara state banks, particularly BRI and Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), to prepare bank accounts for the public.
“The President asked that Indonesia’s population have bank accounts,” said Airlangga.
“The data used is from the civil registration office (dukcapil), and that data will be matched with the systems at Bank Indonesia, particularly the payment system and, secondly, the gateway system. So QRIS will be used. This is being prepared so that our financial literacy and inclusion can be made as optimal as possible, higher than what we have already achieved,” said Coordinating Minister Airlangga.
Airlangga said that going forward, various government assistance programmes would be disbursed directly into people’s bank accounts.
The limited meeting on Monday began at around 15:30 Western Indonesia Time, and the officials attending only left the room at 19:00.
Those present included Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas Maruarar Sirait, Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman, Deputy Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Didit Herdiawan Ashaf, who is also Head of the North Coast of Java Management Authority, Head of the SOE Regulatory Body and COO of Danantara Dony Oskaria, and Head of Statistics Indonesia Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti.
Also present were President Director of BRI Hery Gunardi, President Director of Mandiri Riduan, President Director of BNI Putrama Wahju Setyawan, President Director of BTN Nixon L. P. Napitupulu, and President Director of BSI Anggoro Eko Cahyo.
In addition, there were Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian, Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, former finance minister Fuad Bawazier, and the President’s Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Hashim Djojohadikusumo.