VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Cooperatives and MSMEs Minister Teten Masduki. (ANTARA/screenshot/aditya/usl) - 

The government is preparing a regulation to prevent overseas micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from selling their products in Indonesia via online marketplaces in a bid to protect domestic MSME players.

The Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Ministry, Communication and Informatics Ministry, as well as the Trade Ministry have been tasked with drafting the regulation.

"This regulation aims to prevent more dumping cases of imported MSMEs products through marketplaces," Cooperatives and MSMEs Minister, Teten Masduki, said during an online discussion on acceleration of MSME digitalization in Jakarta on Friday.

Currently, the government is digitalizing small local enterprises by connecting them to the digital ecosystem of virtual marketplaces to help them increase sales and develop their business, he noted. Hence, dumping of goods will threaten domestic businesses, he said.

Just 13.5 million MSMEs, or 20 percent of small businesses, have joined the online market so far against the government’s target of digitizing 30 million MSMEs by 2024, he noted.

“It means we (the Cooperatives and MSMEs Ministry) have to drive another 5 million MSMEs to enter online commerce every year. We cannot fulfill this task alone,” the minister said.

He urged various stakeholders to collaborate closely to increase the number of MSMEs using digital commerce.

The government is focusing on improving the performance of small enterprises in Indonesia since they contribute significantly to Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP), Masduki said.

MSME recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial as this sector absorbs 97 percent of the labor force, he pointed out.

During Bank Indonesia’s survey of 2,970 respondents, 88 percent of MSMEs actors had admitted that the pandemic had impacted their business.

Meanwhile, the remaining 12 percent had said they were able to survive due to the digital market, with as many as 27 percent of them reporting increased sales despite the pandemic//ANT