BI: Limited Infrastructure Becomes A Challenge For MSME Digitalization

Bank Indonesia (BI) Jakarta building. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Limited infrastructure is a challenge for Indonesia in digitizing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) although currently, digital transaction enthusiasts continue to increase in society.

Head of the MSME Development and Consumer Protection Department of Bank Indonesia Yunita Official Sari said that until now internet penetration in Indonesia has only reached 76.8 percent or is ranked 15th in Asia because there are still many remote areas that are not reachable.

"The availability of internet infrastructure is mostly dominated in Java, and internet speed is still not evenly distributed. This is the main challenge in developing the digitization of MSMEs," Yunita said as quoted by Antara, Thursday, June 9.

He said, apart from the unequal availability of infrastructure, Indonesia is also still faced with another challenge, namely the development of cyber crime.

For MSME actors who are sometimes not digitally literate, it can be said that they will become soft food for these cybercriminals.

"For this cyber crime, regulators anticipate it by making regulations and monitoring from upstream to downstream to protect MSME actors and the public in digital transactions," he said.

He does not deny that it is not an easy matter to digitize MSMEs because only 21 percent have so far used digital in Indonesia. In addition, the digital literacy index of MSME actors is still on a medium scale.

According to him, this condition is also caused by the lack of digital talent among MSME actors.

"There is also what we observe, there is a tendency of MSME actors who do not really want to compete," he said.

For this reason, BI in developing the digitization of MSMEs applies three policy pillars, namely corporatization, capacity and access to financing in collaboration with ministries/agencies.

So far, BI has developed e-farming (utilization of digital technology in agriculture), e-commerce (expansion of MSME marketing through digital marketing channels and global marketing), e-financial support (digital applications for MSMEs for financial reports) and e-payment ( QRIS MSMEs - MSME digital payment facilities).