In today's digital era, the government is required to communicate and collaborate quickly and effectively to solve challengesJakarta (ANTARA) - Synergy and collaboration are crucial for the MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprise) sector to adapt to and face the challenges wrought by the pandemic and the digital era.
These remarks were made by director-general of domestic trade at the Trade Ministry (Kemendag), Oke Nurwan, during an online press conference on Wednesday.
"In today's digital era, the government is required to communicate and collaborate quickly and effectively to solve challenges," Nurwan said.
Aspects of collaboration and synergy include creativity, innovation, and speed, he explained. They are important to adapt to the digital era as well as the pandemic, he added.
Collaboration is absolutely necessary, especially in the context of Indonesia's economic recovery besides the health sector in the country, he said. It is necessary to keep the trade wheels running through online and offline trade, he added.
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Data from the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has highlighted five problems faced by MSMEs during the pandemic, Nurwan disclosed.
First, the 23-percent decline in people's purchasing power, which, ultimately, has also reduced product demand and sales, as well as income, he noted.
Second, the existence of distribution barriers, which have disrupted logistics(by approximately 20.5 percent), he said. This has led to shipment orders or purchases taking longer to receive, he added.
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Next, is access to capital and financing (20 percent), he said.
"MSMEs that do not have access to capital from banks, need help to get loans from formal financial services," Nurwan explained.
The fourth problem is the difficulty faced by MSMEs (20 percent) in obtaining raw materials, he pointed out. In addition to the decline in sales, raw materials have also become difficult to access due to restrictions on mobility and imports, considering that many countries have limited mobility in the pandemic era, he elaborated.
The last problem is hampered production (19 percent), including restrictions on the movement of labor, Nurwan said.
"This production barrier is not only limited to mobility. Inadequate production machines are also (making it) difficult to meet domestic and even international needs whose demand is starting to increase," he added.
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Translator: Arnidhya Z, Resinta S
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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