TRIBUNJATENG.COM, JAKARTA – The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop-UKM) said the contribution of MSME exports nationwide is still relatively low at 15.6%.

According to Riza Damanik, a special staff member of the Coordinating Ministry of People’s Economy and Empowerment, UKM, compared to China and India, the percentage of export contribution from Indonesian MSMEs is very distant.

“The indications emerge from the contribution of exports which is still relatively limited. If we compare, it is currently around 15.6%, well below the contribution of Chinese MSMEs which reached 68%, India at 40%, Malaysia and Vietnam reached around 17% “, he said in the Padang Tribune Talkshow. titled The Role of Municipal Governments in Building Export-Oriented SMEs, Wednesday (10/8).

According to him, the government, through the Kemenkop-UKM, aims to increase the contribution of domestic MSME exports to 17% by 2024. To achieve this goal, his party is developing a number of strategies.

First, the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs encourages the birth of 500 modern cooperatives by 2024. These cooperatives will become models to face new challenges amid technological developments and advances.

Second, create a joint production house pilot project which is a place where MSME actors with similar products can carry out production activities together in an area equipped with the latest technology.

“With the joint production house, our MSME players who have superior raw materials in their respective regions can expand with complete facilities or technological facilities whose innovation is not inferior to large enterprises,” said Riza explained.

Third, encourage convenience for MSME actors in accessing finance facilities. He revealed that access to finance is a very crucial thing. Because, the development of a company certainly requires sufficient capital for the company to grow.

In this case, Kemenkop-UKM cooperates with the Institution for Revolving Fund Management for Cooperatives, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (LPDB-KUMKM) and the Indonesian Export Finance Agency (LPEI), while encouraging domestic banks to increase the share of funding to MSME actors.

It didn’t stop there, Riza said, Kemenkop-UKM also promotes human resource capacity building and digitalization for MSME actors.

“By 2024, we are targeting 30 million MSMEs to go digital, and this will be our stand-by to benefit from the digital economy which continues to grow,” he said. (Tribunnews/Bambang Ismoyo)