Faisal Basri: Change The Structure Of MSMEs From A Pyramid To A Ketupat So That The Economy Will Recover Quickly

Indef's senior economist, Faisal Basri. (Photo: Doc. KKP)

JAKARTA - Senior economist from the University of Indonesia and Indef, Faisal Basri, said that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are Indonesia's future. This business sector has even become the backbone of the national economy. In the midst of a crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government must help MSMEs transform.

The transformation that Faisal meant was to help MSMEs move up the level from micro to small and medium enterprises. Because, he said, helping MSMEs survive in this difficult situation is also not enough only from the capital side.

"Our efforts (to help MSMEs), once again, are not merely capital, (but) to transform from a pyramid-shaped business structure to a diamond shape," he said, in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, January 13.

What is meant by pyramid business structure is the type of micro business that dominates at the bottom, while at the top it is filled with a few large types of business. On the other hand, the business structure is in the form of a ketupat, where the dominant types of businesses are small and medium enterprises.

Faisal said, of the total 64 million MSMEs in Indonesia, almost 99 percent were dominated by micro. Then, small businesses are only 1.22 percent, medium is 0.09 percent and large is 0.01 percent.

"So the structure of our MSMEs is like a pyramid. In us, most of the micro, we upgrade the micro, so that it becomes small and medium, not just the micro. The big one is fine, the thick layer is small and medium. This is the spearhead of the recovery. our economy in the future, "he said.

As is known, MSMEs are one of the business sectors that have been very significantly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Only MSMEs that have transformed into the digital or online market are able to survive.

To save MSMEs from the pressure of a pandemic, the government has issued a program of the Proud of Indonesian Creation (BBI). The goal is to invite Indonesians to buy domestically made products.

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki, Indonesia's very large population, almost 300 million people, is a big opportunity that can be optimized.

"If we all buy daily necessities using Indonesian products, it can make our MSMEs survive in the midst of a pandemic," he said, during the launching of the Indonesian National Proud Movement, at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali Province, Monday, January 11.

In addition, said Teten, the government also wants more MSME products to be connected to the digital ecosystem. One of the strategies for this movement is to connect SMEs with various online marketplace platform providers.