The Indonesian government is exerting all efforts to tackle the problem of millions of Indonesian citizens having no access to insurance, banking, and loans services, according to an executive of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration wants to provide 75% of Indonesian adults access to financial services by 2019, up from just 36% in 2014.
“There is a renewed political will, therefore, we are here to bring back all the information to the table so that we can reassess our strategy,” Elisa Sitbon, Gates Foundation program officer for the Financial Services for the Poor, told the Jakarta Globe.
For the past five years, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been working with BI, OJK and other partners in Indonesia, such as financial service consultancy MicroSave, to find ways to bring financial services to poor individuals. The foundation has also given US$6.5 million in funding grants for various research and seminars.
