Surabaya City Government Purchases MSME Products To Boost Community Economy

Mayor of Surabaya Eri Cahyadi (ANTARA/HO-Diskominfo Surabaya)

JAKARTA - The Surabaya City Government has bought up products from Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to boost the people's economy to rise from the COVID-19 pandemic, which is facilitated through the electronic market application or e-peken.

"That's all we buy from MSMEs. So the ASN is trying to buy goods such as rice and others at MSMEs through the application," said Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, June 23.

He explained that the effort was also to encourage spending on domestic products so as to revive the economy after being hit by the pandemic for almost two years.

The Surabaya City Government, he said, has so far facilitated as many as 735 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to trade digitally through the e-peken application.

These MSME actors produce a variety of products ranging from batik clothing, footwear to basic necessities.

"God willing, from February to early May it has reached Rp11 billion," said Eri.

Eri added that in preparation for boosting the upcoming MSMEs, his party is ready to disburse a budget of Rp. 3 trillion which is allocated from the 2023 APBD to help MSMEs.

The budget allocation includes spending to support MSMEs, such as uniforms for community partners to MSME development needs, for example the manufacture of paving and the provision of sand.

"In 2023, I make sure that Rp. 3 trillion will go down to the people, who are working on the Surabaya MSMEs," said Eri.

In addition to ensuring that MSME products are absorbed, he continued, his party also provides assets belonging to the Surabaya City Government as land to support MSME actors, including providing training and access to capital.

"We use the Surabaya City Government assets to reduce poverty so people who fall into the category of Low-Income Communities, we give them land, they work, what is done is according to the market," he said.

In building the people's economy, he also did not let go of the spirit of gotong royong which has been proven to accelerate improvements, such as when facing the COVID-19 pandemic where residents helped each other.