Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto emphasized the importance of digital transformation for the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector to accelerate Indonesia’s economic growth.
In his efforts to support MSMEs, President Prabowo directed officials in the relevant Ministries to ensure that this sector can move up a class, considering its very large contribution to the Indonesian economy, which is around 61%.
This was conveyed by the Deputy Minister of MSMEs, Helvi Yuni Moraza, who explained the President’s direction in handling two main problems faced by MSMEs, namely access to capital and market access.
“He advised, please prepare capital for MSMEs and open as much capital access as possible.” he said
In addition, President Prabowo also encouraged support to open wider market access for MSMEs, so that their products can be better known and accepted in both local and international markets.
Helvi added that the current MSME capital structure is still largely unformalized and undirected.
For this reason, the Government plans to establish a new capital provision institution, which will later be managed by the Ministry of SMEs.
“We have a program, later there will be a capital provision institution itself managed by the Ministry of SMEs,” said Helvi.
In addition, the Minister of Communication and Information, Meutya Hafid, also stated the importance of improving internet infrastructure to support the digitalization of SMEs.
“For example, if the internet is still slow, we see that it can still hinder the growth of digital SMEs,” said Meutya.
She emphasized that better connectivity and wider internet coverage will allow more SME players to take full advantage of digital technology.
Meutya also said that the government is preparing new regulations to accelerate the growth of digital SMEs.
“The potential is still high so we will try to see how to improve these digital SMEs from regulations,” explained Meutya,
Meutya also emphasized that although the contribution of digital SMEs to economic transactions is already large, there is still room for further improvement.
Meanwhile, the Bengkulu City Government also plays an active role in encouraging MSMEs to adopt digital technology.
Head of the Cooperatives and MSMEs Office of Bengkulu City, Eddyson, said, “By using digital platforms, MSMEs can reach a wider market, both local and global.”
The Cooperatives and MSMEs Office of Bengkulu City has provided training to 30 MSMEs on the use of digital platforms to market their products.
With the new policies prepared by the government at the central and regional levels, the digitalization of MSMEs is expected to accelerate the growth of this sector.