Prabowo Announces Debt Relief for 1 Million Farmers and Fishermen

JAKARTA, RAKYAT NEWS – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has officially canceled debts owed by micro, small, and medium enterprises (UMKM) in the agricultural, plantation, livestock, and fisheries sectors.

This bold move, announced at a press conference at the Merdeka Palace on Tuesday, is in line with Government Regulation (PP) No. 47 of 2024, which was signed by President Prabowo on the same day.

The debt cancellation will provide relief to over 1 million individuals in these sectors, who have faced financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters. Prabowo’s decision aims to boost agricultural and fishery production, key sources of food for Indonesia’s population, by easing the financial burdens that have limited these industries’ potential.

“We believe that the people of Indonesia should be honored for their critical role in ensuring the nation’s food supply,” Prabowo stated.

The government’s debt cancellation initiative is focused on farmers, fishermen, and small businesses that had previously struggled to access traditional bank loans due to their poor credit history.

With this program, they will no longer be burdened by debts owed to state-owned banks, which were previously causing them to seek loans from informal and often predatory lenders.

Maman Abdurrahman, Minister of UMKM, explained that this debt relief will benefit approximately 1 million people, with the total debt amount reaching IDR 10 trillion. The program targets individuals and businesses with debts up to IDR 500 million for companies and IDR 300 million for individuals.

“This initiative is for those who have truly been unable to recover financially after the pandemic or natural disasters such as earthquakes,” Maman clarified during the announcement.