To support the success of the Merah Putih Village Cooperative (KDMP) program, the government ordered the State Bank Association (Himbara) to be involved in funding the cooperative program. Is this an opportunity to increase bank credit? Or does it potentially increase the risk of bad debts?

Deputy Minister of Cooperatives and Coordinator of the Task Force for the Acceleration of the Establishment of KDMP Putih Ferry Juliantono, explained that the initial financing of Kopdes will be channeled through a special People's Business Credit (KUR) with a ceiling of up to Rp3 billion per cooperative.

The interest rate charged is 6%, with a tenor of 6 years for working capital and 10 years for investment. The government also proposes a grace period of 6 months to allow room for cooperative adaptation in the early stages of operations.

"The PMK (Minister of Finance Regulation) is being finalized at the Ministry of Finance. Then we completed the technical guidelines for the operationalization of village pharmacies or village clinics. In the near future, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation related to the distribution of 3 Kg LPG gas will also be issued soon," Ferry said in a press statement on July 15.

Regarding the village cooperative financing scheme, Ferry explained that this scheme will involve the cooperation of three parties, namely the cooperative itself, the distributor/supplier, and the channeling bank. Later, Kopdes will apply for financing to Bank Himbara or BSI according to its needs. Then the bank will conduct a business feasibility review to determine the amount of financing approved.

Then related to the 103 Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih pilots or mockups, it is confirmed that all of them are ready both in terms of the business ecosystem and the financing scheme.

Himbara's response

For this reason, as part of Himbara, Bank Mandiri plays an active role in assisting cooperatives designated as KDKMP launch points throughout Indonesia. In these cooperatives, Bank Mandiri has also prepared digital financial services such as Mandiri Agent and QRIS, as well as ensuring the readiness of physical service infrastructure.

"Digitalization of cooperatives cannot be separated from the readiness of facilities and systems. We are here to ensure cooperatives have modern service channels as well as a proper and professional business place," said Bank Mandiri President Director Darmawan Junaidi in Klaten, Central Java, Monday (21/7).

In supporting the launch of Koperasi Merah Putih, Bank Mandiri mobilized teams from various business units to accelerate activation in the field. At a number of points such as KDKMP Malangjiwan in Karanganyar and KKMP Banyuanyar in Surakarta, for example, Bank Mandiri has completed the process of painting the building, installing signboards and branding, as well as installing gondola shelves and storefronts as the main facilities of the cooperative.

In addition, internet network strengthening is also carried out to support application-based digital financial services. This step is strengthened by organizing cooperative management and financial literacy training that has been rolling since the end of June 2025, involving more than thousands of cooperative administrators from various regions.

This hybrid training is part of the effort to accelerate the readiness of cooperative institutions throughout Indonesia. Bank Mandiri is also directly involved in verifying and validating the readiness of designated cooperatives, in collaboration with the KDMP Task Force, technical ministries, and local governments.

This synergy, continued Darmawan, ensures that all cooperatives involved have complete legality and operational readiness to carry out their functions as outlets for basic necessities, LPG, financial services, and logistics.

"We fully support the launch of the Merah Putih Village Cooperative program as a government effort to strengthen the people-based economy, especially in the region. Our role in this case, is focused on assisting cooperatives to be operationally ready, especially in providing digital financial services and improving basic facilities," Darmawan said.

With a comprehensive approach that includes digitalization, training, and infrastructure improvements, Bank Mandiri hopes that Merah Putih Cooperative can become the backbone of sustainable village economic growth. This long-term commitment is in line with the government's goal to strengthen the people's economy through the development of professional and ecosystem-based institutions.

BRI President Director Hery Gunardi said that the launch of KDMP by President Prabowo is an important momentum in building the foundation of an inclusive and sustainable populist economy.

One of the concrete manifestations of BRI's commitment in providing easy access to financial services for rural communities is through the presence of AgenBRILink which is integrated with cooperatives.

In the ecosystem formed today, AgenBRILink is one of the strategic partners that plays an active role in supporting KDMP operations. Recorded, until the first half of 2025, as many as 1.22 million AgenBRILink have spread across 67,000 villages throughout Indonesia.

This extensive network is the backbone of BRI's financial services distribution to remote areas of the country. No doubt, AgenBRILink has now developed into a social commerce node that serves financial transactions and supports the economic activities and daily needs of rural communities in a sustainable manner.

As is known, KDMP carries an integrated 7 in 1 Business Model approach. Going forward, this partnership will continue to be developed along with the expansion of collaboration with various SOEs.

Furthermore, to ensure the sustainability of KDMP, BRI as an agent of development and strategic partner of the government, is committed to presenting a comprehensive approach that includes two main aspects, namely business assistance and access to financial solutions through the One BRI Solution initiative.

First, in the aspect of business assistance, BRI places Relationship Managers as a single point of contact for cooperatives, provides operational assistance for AgenBRILink, and provides thematic training and educational digital platforms to systematically increase the capacity of cooperative institutions.

On the other hand, secondly, in the One Solution aspect, BRI provides access to business and investment financing, encourages cooperatives to become formal financial service providers through AgenBRILink, and presents Qlola by BRI, an integrated financial management platform to support cooperative operational efficiency.

Both approaches have also been implemented in a number of KDMPs that are now active in several regions. For example, KDMP Hambalang (Bogor, West Java), KDMP Bumisari (South Lampung), KDMP Cileunyi Wetan, KDMP Cangkuang Wetan (Bandung, West Java), and KDMP Pangkah Wetan (Gresik, East Java).

As part of the national rollout, 80,081 KDMPs have been formed simultaneously and are legally authorized to operate in their respective areas. These cooperatives utilize available village or kelurahan assets, including those that were previously unused. In addition, the local economic potential of each village is also optimized to strengthen the role of cooperatives as centers of community economic activity.

Funding risk

Chairman of the Association of Strategic Socio-Economic Cadres (Akses) Suroto said that Himbara's involvement is actually risky. According to him, the state-owned bank will not bear the risk in the event of bad credit, but will be charged to the entire village community through deductions from the Village Fund allocation.

The allocation of the Village Fund as collateral for bad credit loans from state-owned banks not only indicates that government banks do not want to bear the losses of haphazard government projects, but also indicates that the KDMP is not given a special allocation from the APBN.

"There is no special allocation from the state budget and does not have adequate fiscal commitment," he said, Saturday (26/7/2025).