The Ministry of Communication and Informatics will provide support to the Government Goods/Services Procurement Policy Institute (LKPP) to facilitate all expenditures of ministries and regional institutions through e-catalogues. The Minister of Communication and Informatics, Johnny G. Plate, stated that the support includes the preparation of applications, bandwidth and data centres.
The President said earlier to regional heads to encourage UMKM and Ultra Micro (UMi) to be assisted. So that the product is immediately registered in the LKPP e-catalogue. At least, by the end of this year, a minimum of 1 million products are available in our e-catalogue list, which is currently almost 200,000.
The digital ecosystem needs to be used optimally in favour of domestic products. Compared to other countries, Minister Johnny stated that it was not impossible for a country as big as Indonesia. Be it information technology, data centre or downstream of information technology. Like digital payments, it was also conveyed to use and utilise the Indonesian Standard QR issued by Bank Indonesia as a digital payment tool and mechanism to facilitate shopping transactions.
Minister Johnny admitted that he had heard that the regional government would immediately prepare a debit card to facilitate regional spending needs. Therefore, the Ministry of Communications and Informatics provides affirmative support for the allocation of APBN expenditures for the communications and information technology sector.
In 2022, the government’s expenditure or the state budget is IDR 2,714 trillion. Among them, there is a portion that can be spent on domestic products. And now is the moment of truth, where the Government of Indonesia through President Joko Widodo takes a direct policy towards the “Proud Made in Indonesia” through the State Budget stimulus.
At least Rp1.481 trillion is available which can be spent on domestic products in the context of proud affirmation actions made in Indonesia. In particular, today the Head of State emphasised that at least Ministries and agencies allocate a minimum of 40% of Ministries and Institutions spending for domestic products.
A commitment of IDR 400 trillion, the minimum must be determined no later than May 31, 2022 so that it can be ensured that the expenditure is realized in the 2022 Fiscal Year. For that, the communication and informatics sector has given its affirmation through business matchmaking, which had recorded Rp. 214 trillion, the commitment of ministries and institutions as well as regions to spend it.
The Ministry of Communication and Informatics allocates Rp. 10.9 trillion, equivalent to 43.3% of the total expenditure. According to him, the expenditure has the potential to be increased up to Rp. 11.6 trillion or equivalent to 45.9%. The Ministry also appealed to take part on the 85% Gross Domestic Product side to ensure that national spending favours Indonesian domestic products.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, despite the pandemic, Indonesia’s economy continues to strengthen, thanks to widespread digital adoption and transformation across a wide range of industries and stakeholders. The digital economy has played a vital role in Indonesia’s overall economic recovery, particularly during difficult times, when digitalisation has considerably aided some critical government programs such as the pre-employment card and the microcredit programme (KUR).
The digital economy could be the primary driver of post-pandemic economic growth if stakeholders, either the government, investors or companies, join hands in continuing to build the country’s digital foundations stronger and broader. The digital economy will also become one of Indonesia’s Group of 20 presidency priorities in 2022. The government, through the Communications and Information Ministry, has developed three priority issues in the Digital Economy Working Group: equitable digital access, digital literacy and cross-border flow of data traffic.
