TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama Kusubandio on Friday’s virtual discussion hoped micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) could shift to digital platforms.

“In line with the ministry’s goal to make MSMEs Indonesia’s economic backbone in the future,” said Wishnutama on Friday, August 28.

The government launched May this year a movement dubbed Gerakan Nasional Bangga Buatan Indonesia, which promotes local prides and the use of locally-made products. Up until August 15, 2020, Wishnutama reported there were 1.6 additional MSMEs that had entered digital platforms ever since the movement was launched.

Based on the records kept by the Cooperatives and SMEs Ministry, the number of small-to-medium enterprises amounts to 64 million but only 13 percent (8 million) of which have turned to digital platforms.

Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), based on the Creative Economy Board, recorded in 2017 that Indonesia was the third largest nation after the United States and South Korea in terms of its creative economy industry contribution toward its national economy.

“The U.S. reached 11.36 percent, South Korea with 8.9 percent, and Indonesia with 7.28 percent,” said Wishnutama. The three main contributors to this stemmed from the fashion industry (41.4 percent), culinary (17.6 percent), and handicraft (15 percent) with exports amounting to USD11,964 million (fashion), USD6,000 million (handicraft), USD1,300 million (culinary).

Read: Digital Transformation Solution for MSMEs Amid Global Pandemic

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