Indonesia's guaranteed microfinance programme (KUR) : lessons from the first stage of implementation

This paper analyses the first stage of the Kredit Usaha Rakyat (KUR) programme, the guaranteed microcredit programme for supporting the development of SMEs in Indonesia. KUR is a partial credit guarantee programme that helps to fulfil the collateral requirement hindering SMEs from accessing credit. By gaining access to credit, SMEs are expected to develop while also creating employment and generating income for the poor and near poor. Based on KUR's loan disbursement, its number of participating banks, and its number of borrowers, this paper shows that the implementation of the programme attracted millions of SMEs. This paper then highlights the ways in which KUR has or has not addressed market failures in the credit market for SMEs. This paper also shows that KUR's role in accelerating poverty reduction is still questionable as there are many poor households unable to access the programme. Hence, the main policy challenges are: first, improving the design of KUR to reduce information asymmetry; second, ensuring that KUR meets its anti-poverty objectives by reaching the right sectors and the right regions; and third, strengthening the KUR Policy Committee's oversight and ability to coordinate across key stakeholders.(J SEA Econ/GIGA)