REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TANGERANG -- Queen Maxima of the Netherlands as UN Secretary General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development has expressed support and hailed Indonesia for its commitment to inclusive finance.
"Indonesia's commitment to use inclusive finance to alleviate poverty has become a priority in the current era of President (Joko Widodo)," she said at the Indonesia Fintech Festival & Conference at Indonesia Convention Exhibition in the Tangerang district in Banten province on Tuesday (30/8).
The wife of King Willem Alexander said the use of the inclusive finance was a substantial progress in the effort to increase the life of the people. Indonesia's dynamic economic growth in the past five years have been able to reduce the number of the poor from 20 percent to 11 percent of the population.
"The extension of financial institutions' coverage has reached low-income people through micro-economic financing organization, cooperatives, and private banks as well as the government," she said.
She also highlighted the government's policy initiatives such as increasing access to communication network in remote regions, digitalization of IDs and strengthening of financial industry.
"The results have been able to boost financial access from 20 percent to 36 percent from 2011 to 2014," she said.
Queen Maxima viewed that inclusive finance in Indonesia has given a positive impact on the people who live far from cities. She said she saw the impact on rubber farmers in remote Sumatra regions who are now able to produce quality plants and increase productivity.
She also saw it on shop owners who live tens of kilometers from the closest bank who used smart agents to save as well as the implementation of technology to ease extension of government financing to people living in remote areas.
Queen Maxima considered the useful side of the financial inclusion as realization of President Joko Widodo's vision especially with regard to alleviating poverty. She said President Joko Widodo's Nawacita vision was in line with the commitment of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) operated by UNDP. She also considered the vision as reflecting agendas projected in the SDGs.
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