Minister Of Agriculture Able To Target 1 Million SMEs To Enter LKPP E-Catalog

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (MenkopUKM) Teten Masduki agreed that the target of 1 million MSMEs being included in the e-catalog system of the Government Goods/Services Procurement Policy Institute (LKPP) can be achieved this year.

"We are targeting 1 million MSMEs onboarding in the procurement of goods and services to optimize shopping activities for domestic products made by MSMEs. As directed by the President," he said at the virtual opening of the National Coordination Meeting for Digital Transformation and Complete Data Collection of Cooperatives and MSMEs, Monday, March 28.

This was conveyed by Teten after President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) evaluated the performance of his staff related to the still rampant import spending instead of buying domestically made products.

"This is our struggle to ensure that the digital economy potential of IDR 4,531 trillion in 2030 can be fully utilized by MSME actors and the Indonesian people," he explained.

Teten said the number of MSMEs entering the digital ecosystem in Indonesia had doubled in the span of 2 years during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, there are only 8 million MSMEs going digital.

Currently, continued Teten, there are around 17.59 million MSMEs that have entered the digital ecosystem. This amount is equivalent to 27 percent of the total business population in this segment or 58 percent of the total target of 30 million.

Teten emphasized that digital transformation is not just presenting MSMEs on a digital platform. According to Teten, the digital transformation of MSMEs is a holistic endeavor, not only in the marketing aspect. But also build an ecosystem that includes business processes from upstream to downstream.

"With the KUMKM digital approach, we are optimistic that the target given by President Jokowi can be achieved, so that we can optimize the potential of Indonesia's digital economy," he said.

As previously reported, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) revealed that the domestic micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector will continue to thrive. The government also pays great attention to this business sector. Therefore, Jokowi is targeting one million MSMEs to be included in the LKPP e-catalog.

Jokowi also asked that the budget allocation for goods/services for ministries/agencies, regional governments and state-owned enterprises (BUMN) for MSMEs should reach Rp400 trillion in May by 2022.

"I don't want to deal with the Rp400 trillion issue again in May. Immediately encourage SMEs in the regions to enter the e-catalog immediately. Enter as much as possible," Jokowi said during a virtual briefing on the Pride Made in Indonesia (BBI) affirmative action on Friday, March 25.

"I ask the Head of LKPP Pak Anas, yesterday 50 thousand had jumped to 161 thousand in the e-catalog, by the end of the year it must be able to reach 1 million jumps, it must be so. Regional heads, governors, mayors, regents take our good SMEs "Good, go to the e-catalog," he continued.