Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the national economy but remain underrepresented in global markets, Investment Minister/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Rosan Roeslani said Thursday.”MSMEs are a cornerstone of our economy,” Roeslani said, noting the sector employs around 117 million people — roughly 97 percent of the workforce — and contributes 61 percent to GDP.Despite their domestic strength, MSMEs account for only 16 percent of Indonesia’s exports. “One of our goals is to push MSMEs to go global, and to become creative, high-quality, and export-ready. This remains a major challenge,” he said while encouraging MSME players to move up the ladder to become large-scale entrepreneurs so they can, in turn, support and assist other MSME players.”MSMEs must level up, they should grow into small businesses, then small businesses should grow into medium enterprises, and medium enterprises into large ones. Large businesses must then come back and support small enterprises,” Roeslani explained.He emphasized the need to support MSMEs, particularly in terms of access to capital, technology, human resources, and digitalization.Meanwhile, Trade Minister Budi Santoso informed that business matching transactions involving MSMEs and Indonesian representatives abroad reached USD90.4 million or around Rp1.4 trillion.He also noted that 70 percent of these MSMEs had never previously exported their products abroad.In these business matching events, Santoso said MSMEs did not meet their buyers in person but rather through virtual meetings, assisted by the ministry’s representatives abroad, banking institutions, or other government agencies.
Indonesia\’s MSMEs vital to economy, but exports still lag: minister
