Credit Access and Household Income: Evidence from Capture Fisheries Households in Indonesia

Access to credit is widely viewed as a pathway to improving fishers’ welfare, but empirical evidence from the capture fisheries sector remains scarce. This study examines how access to formal (bank and non–bank) and informal credit relates to the income of capture fisheries households in Indonesia. Using cross–sectional household income survey data from Statistics Indonesia, covering 16,573 fishing households across 31 provinces, we apply a quasi–experimental Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach to construct a comparable control group. The results show that access to bank and non–bank credit is positively and significantly associated with higher household income, whereas the relationship with informal credit is statistically insignificant. Despite these gains, fishers remain less likely to access formal credit due to collateral demands and lower flexibility relative to informal sources. Our findings point to the need for expanded and tailored formal credit schemes to support fishers’ welfare.