Jakarta, Aug. 8 -- Deputy Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono emphasized that the Red and White Village Cooperatives build and strengthen independent village economy with the spirit of cooperation.

"The establishment of 80 thousand Red and White Village Cooperatives across villages in Indonesia is an effort to increase village economic participation," he said in a statement here on Thursday.

He assessed that the extreme poverty rate in villages remains high due to the lack of employment opportunities and low wage.

This situation is deemed to have caused the flow of productive money in villages to be limited, and has led to the rise of loan sharks, middlemen, and illegal online lending practices.

"The Red and White Village Cooper...