Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – As much as 60 percent of Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) depends on women as they play a very important role in the development of small and medium enterprises, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.

“We see women in Indonesia play a very important role, especially in small and medium enterprises. This means that 60 percent of the GDP will depend on women," she said on the sidelines of the 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) here on Thursday (March 17).

Sri Mulyani noted that of the 60 million small and medium enterprises in the country, around 50 percent of them are owned by women at the micro level.

In detail, women in Indonesia have 56 percent of small businesses and 34 percent of medium-sized businesses, meaning that the smaller the size of the company or economic activity, the bigger the ownership by women.

In the fourth most populated country in the world, small and medium enterprises provide 67 percent of employment, confirming that women play an important role in creating jobs.

The Indonesian government has a national financial inclusion program with a target of 90 percent of women being included in it by 2024, given that women's access to finance is still small.

Women still have limited access to financial institutions because of the total bank credit, only 18 percent of loans are channeled to small and medium enterprises.

The government has assigned banks to channel credit to small and medium-sized businesses at a minimum level of 30 percent.

"This is still a challenge for some banks because they are not used to serving loans in small amounts, especially those owned by women," Sri Mulyani said.

Efforts to achieve financial inclusion for 90 percent of Indonesian women are also carried out through various programs in the form of education and financial literacy as well as creating access through digital technologies.

Reporting by Indonesia Window