The Bank Indonesia Representative Office (KPw BI) West Kalimantan encourages SMEs to take care of product halal certificates so they can target the regional government (Pemda) spending market through e-catalog. "The policy for government spending through e-catalog and buying products from MSMEs at 40 percent of the existing funds is an opportunity that must be taken by business actors. But of course the product must have a permit including the condition that there is a halal certificate," said Head of the West Kalimantan BI BI Regional Office, Agus Chusaini , during the 2012 West Kalimantan Sharia Economic Echo activity in Kubu Raya, Tuesday (29/3/2022). He added, in general, MSME products that already have a halal certificate can automatically open the market widely, even on an international scale. "Halal certificates are not only limited to complying with the Shari'a but also automatically expand the market. From the same product but there are halal certifications and those that are not, then definitely choose those that are already halal," he said.
So far, according to Agus, the West Kalimantan BI Representative Office has also continued to help facilitate MSME actors in applying for halal certification. "Although it is training and other assistance that we do so that friends are enthusiastic and can get several certificates to complete their products. We continue to encourage and hope that the government can provide more free quotas. So many of our MSMEs have halal certificates," said Agus explained. Meanwhile, at the opening of the 2022 West Kalimantan Sharia Economics Echo, Assistant III for Administration and General Affairs of the West Kalimantan Provincial Government, Alfian said that currently, of the total MSMEs in West Kalimantan, only one percent has a halal certificate. "The number of SMEs in West Kalimantan is still small, only about one percent. For that, it must be a common concern," he said. It was recorded at the SME Cooperatives Service of West Kalimantan Province, as of February 28, 2022, MSME actors in West Kalimantan were 195,067, consisting of 167,743 micro-enterprises, 25,619 small and 1,705 medium-sized enterprises. Meanwhile, observer of MSMEs in West Kalimantan from the Faculty of Economics and Business, Tanjungpura University, Pontianak, Muhammad Fahmi, assessed that the presence of government spending policies through e-catalogs and providing portions to MSMEs was very good.
