Transactions Reach 62 Billion US Dollars, E-Commerce Becomes The Main Contributor To Indonesia's Digital Economy Growth

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Head of the Digital and MSME Center, Indef Eisha Maghfiruha, said that online trading or "e-commerce" is still the largest contributor to Indonesia's digital economy growth.

"Our ''E-commerce' is still dominated by the digital economy sector in Indonesia," said Eisha in a public discussion held online by Indef in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Friday, December 29.

Eisha said that in 2023, the value of e-commerce transactions in Indonesia reached 62 billion US dollars or grew 18.8 percent compared to 2022.

He added that the rapid growth of the digital economy provides a great opportunity for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to develop their business. However, according to him, there are still many MSMEs who have not taken advantage of these opportunities.

"Many MSMEs in Indonesia are in the trade sector, which is the most dominant sector in the digital economy. However, only about 22 million or 33.6 percent of MSMEs have gone digital," said Eisha.

Furthermore, Eisha said the Indonesian government is targeting 30 million MSMEs to go digital by 2024. This target is still quite far from the current achievement, so according to her, there needs to be an acceleration of digital adoption by MSMEs.

He said one of the efforts that the government can do is to provide training and assistance to MSMEs to adapt to digital technology.

Eisha added that the government can also provide incentives to "e-commerce" platforms to provide support to MSMEs.

In addition, he reminded the government to encourage financial inclusion for MSMEs, such as encouraging digital financial innovation to provide alternative financing for MSMEs.

"Digital financial innovation can provide alternative criteria that can be given to demonstrate the capability of MSMEs to obtain financing," said Eisha.

With digital adoption and financial inclusion, Eisha hopes that MSMEs can increase their productivity and capacity to achieve an inclusive economy.

Furthermore, Eisha said that currently, Indonesians are heading towards using non-cash transactions, especially through the use of the Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard (QRIS) in daily shopping transactions. This can certainly make it easier for MSMEs to sell online.

"This means that this is a very big opportunity for MSMEs to go digital and take advantage of the digital economy to increase productivity and competitiveness," said Eisha.