The Impact of Super Micro Credit on SMEs During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the decline in economic sectors, including the SME sector. Based on research conducted by OJK, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on decreasing sales turnover for more than 80 percent of SMEs. Another study even stated that as many as 58% of SMEs close their businesses temporarily. This condition encourages the government to create various programs to support the sustainability of SME businesses. One of the programs is the Super Micro Credit program, which purposes to strengthen SME business capital. This article aims to see how they use Super Micro Credit funds and how it affects SMEs. The research method used is a quantitative approach using the index impact factors. The results showed that SMEs had utilized the use of funds from the Super Micro Credit program to increase capital (42%) and 37% of other needs related to business. However, 21% of SMEs use these funds for different conditions unrelated to business. Furthermore, the Super Micro Credit program positively impacts SMEs with an index score of 0.65. Meanwhile, partially Super Micro Credit has a positive influence in maintaining business continuity (index score 0.67), maintaining sales (index score 0.68) and employees (index score 0.58), conducting business development (index score 0.70), even to make a new attempt (0.60). This Super Micro Credit Program needs to be continued in the coming years so that the national economy can continue to run.