Minister Maman Pushes Financing and Subsidies to Elevate MSMEs

The Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) has issued Ministerial Regulation No. 3/2026, which mandates that marketplaces must reduce service fees by at least 50 percent for verified MSMEs that exclusively sell local products. Minister of MSMEs, Maman Abdurrahman, stated that this policy is designed to create a fair business climate for MSMEs, logistics companies, and e-commerce platforms alike. It also represents an effort to protect and enhance the competitiveness of local MSMEs. Despite facing criticism, the ministry is actively socialising the service fee regulation to micro and small business operators. Currently, the average service fees charged by e-commerce platforms to MSMEs, which are often tied to promotions, range from 18 to 21 percent. The government expects a 50 percent discount on these fees, provided the MSMEs receiving the incentive are integrated into the MSME service ecosystem through the SAPA UMKM application. Minister Maman also highlighted efforts to advance the MSME sector, noting that data indicates there are 57 million MSMEs, comprising 1 million small enterprises, 500,000 to 600,000 medium enterprises, and the remainder being micro-enterprises. However, definitive data is still lacking, prompting the Ministry of MSMEs and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) to launch the SAPA UMKM application. This platform will register MSMEs while providing various services related to financing, training, and payment systems. Strengthening the MSME data system is expected to map the sector’s conditions accurately, allowing the application to be used to ensure that MSME subsidy programmes are more precisely targeted.