Stalled stimulus leaves Indonesia’s small firms with no lifeline

Whether small businesses can survive the pandemic’s blow will affect how strictly the Indonesian government can impose measures to contain the pandemic. - AFP

JAKARTA (Bloomberg): Slow stimulus spending threatens Indonesia’s recovery as smaller businesses that are the backbone of the economy have been kept waiting for much-needed funds to weather an extended lockdown.

Only about 30% of more than 186 trillion rupiah (US$13bil) of combined national and provincial government aid has yet been disbursed for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, Finance Ministry data show.