Deputy Minister Of Trade Jerry: MSMEs Play An Important Role In Saving The Indonesian Economy

Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry Sambuaga. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry Sambuaga emphasized that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play an important role in saving the nation's economy.

Jerry said that MSME support made the Indonesian economy continue to grow positively.

If you look at the 2021 data, Jerry continued, 61.07 percent of Indonesia's total gross domestic product (GDP) comes from the MSME sector.

The Indonesian economy remains resilient even though it has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020.

"Optimism is certainly not without reason. Some of our trade indicators are currently showing a good record figure. The Indonesian economy is also projected to still grow 5-5.1 percent in 2023. However, of course, we must continue to monitor and be aware of the current global conditions," he said in an official statement, Sunday, November 27.

Jerry said MSMEs were also able to absorb 117 million workers or 97 percent of the total workforce.

The details are, micro-enterprises as much as 107.4 million, small businesses 5.8 million, and medium-sized businesses 3.7 million.

Thus, said Jerry, supporting MSME businesses means saving income, purchasing power, and public consumption which greatly affects Indonesia's economic resilience.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed, developed new ways, and abandoned old habits that are no longer relevant to health protocols.

Jerry said that the pandemic in reality also spurred business actors to change, especially from selling.

This condition, Jerry continued, ultimately encourages the very high use of digital technology by business actors in business operations, such as online marketing, digital payment methods, and online promotion through social media.

Therefore, the e-commerce industry has recently become very loved by almost all Indonesian people.

Currently, said Jerry, e-commerce is the largest contributor in Indonesia's digital economy.

This is supported by the potential of digital users in Indonesia of 212.35 million internet users and 170 million are the use of social media and users of commercial services which have reached 88.1 percent of the total internet users in Indonesia.

The Ministry of Trade also noted that 54 percent of the total commercial-el visits came from platforms owned by Indonesia.

In fact, the value of e-commerce transactions in 2021 reached IDR 401 trillion.

Jerry said that the implementation of e-commerce requires collaboration between the government and business actors to facilitate MSME players to be able to compete in e-commerce.

Collaboration is intended to provide assistance or incubation for implementing strategies, building online stores, creating business networks, and creating domestic products that continue to prioritize local or national characteristics that have added value and competitiveness.

To support the growth of Indonesia's digital economy, said Jerry, digital transformation is needed, one of which is aimed at entrepreneurs.

"The government through the Ministry of Trade facilitates digital transformation for domestic business actors through domestic entrepreneurship development and empowerment programs, especially MSME players in several ways," he said.

First, said Jerry, facilitating marketing partnerships between MSME players and mainstream online marketplaces, such as Tokopedia, Shopee, Bukalapak, and Blibli.

Second, encouraging the use of the Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard (QRIS) which is the standard national QR code to facilitate QR code payments in Indonesia launched by Bank Indonesia and the Indonesian Payment System Association (ASPI) on August 17, 2019.

Third, encourage the digitization of the people's market and empowerment of Micro Small Enterprises (UMK) with a target of 1,000 people's markets and 1 million UMK players, consisting of 250 thousand people's market traders and 750 thousand non-market traders.

The impact of digitalization, for example in Tokopedia's Cicalengka Market, produced 5,673 orders or transactions online during 2021.

Fourth, facilitate the promotion of SMEs to the global market through InaExport. InaExport is a one-stop service service platform facilitating non-oil and gas exports to connect and promote Indonesian business actors or exporters to international buyers.

InaExport offers profits that not only help sales, but also help export-oriented SMEs to gain access and information regarding the needs of prospective buyers abroad. Fifth, in an effort to recover the economy, synergy and cooperation are needed in facing global challenges. One of them is through the collaboration of the Ministry of Trade with designers, associations and academics to assist SMEs in developing products and packaging that suit export destinations, preferences, and regulation of export destination countries.

For this reason, said Jerry, the Ministry of Trade provides online design consulting clinic services for SMEs throughout Indonesia.

Services can be accessed through the IDDC of the Ministry of Trade to create quality, added value, and competitive products.

On the same occasion, a low-cost market was also held on November 26-28, 2022.

"The cheap market is one way to maintain price stabilization and the availability of basic necessities with relevant agencies, local governments, and all business actors in the food sector. The implementation of cheap markets is expected to come into direct contact with the community, and become an alternative to meeting the basic needs of the community," concluded Jerry.