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THE COOPERATIVES and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Ministry has urged ministries, institutions, and regions to increase domestic product purchases through the e-catalog as it could support MSME businesses and assist in post-pandemic recovery.
Expert staff for productivity and competitiveness at the ministry, Eddy Satriya, said that in terms of quality, domestically made products, especially those produced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs), can compete with foreign products. Moreover, most of these products have a domestic component level of up to 75%.
He delivered the statement at the 4th business matching event in Nusa Dua, Bali, hosted this week.
“The potential for domestic products is so huge. In fact, (in) many of (these products the) level of domestic components is already above 75 percent. This is an initial capital for us,” he said at a talk show held as part of a series of business meetings at BNDCC, Nusa Dua, on Thursday (October 6, 2022), according to a statement issued by the ministry recently.
Satriya added that his administration is continuing to encourage government procurement of domestic products, capped at 40%.
Therefore, the use of e-catalogs is important because, through them, ministries, agencies, and regional governments can discover and connect with SMEs that produce domestically made goods.
“We want regional governments not only to encourage MSMEs to go onboard (merge with the electronic system), but also to encourage their work units to push their purchases through e-catalogs,” he remarked.
He said that there are two measures that must be taken in conjunction to increase domestic product spending: supply-wise, MSME players must be encouraged to join the e-catalog system; and demand-wise, the ones with sufficient budget must encourage work units to increase spending allocations through the e-catalog of the Government Goods/Services Procurement Policy Institute.
The ministry has provided various facilities and programs aimed at assisting MSME businesses, including people’s business loans, whose value has reached IDRp373 trillion, and some funding for cooperatives, he revealed.
In terms of business legality, the ministry has also consistently hosted training and provided assistance to MSME actors, particularly through the grant of business registration numbers, home industry production permits, intellectual property rights, and halal certification. [antaranews/photo special]
