The Provincial Government of the Bangka Belitung Islands seeks to develop a cooperative-based community economy and micro, small and medium enterprises. "Cooperatives are the pillars of economics and MSMEs have been proven to have resilience when facing a crisis. We will continue to develop the local economy based on superior commodities by optimizing the role of cooperatives and MSME actors," said Head of the Babel Province Cooperatives and SMEs Service Yulizar Adnan, in Pangkalpinang. , Saturday. Empowerment of cooperatives and MSMEs is important to encourage community economic growth, increase gross regional domestic product (GRDP) per capita and support sustainable development. "In this case, we will direct the development of the people's economy through the development of local economic potential based on superior commodities which will later involve cooperatives to accommodate MSME actors," he said.

Yulizar stated that the integrated development of cooperatives and SMEs was carried out in line with the policy directions set by the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs so that they could get attention, guidance and assistance, given the limited budget. According to him, the number of cooperatives in Babel is quite a lot spread over seven regencies/cities. As of March 2022, there are 1,127 cooperatives, but 719 cooperatives are active with 37,784 members. "The presence of cooperatives must be able to show their role and function in the economy, in this case we continue to strive to improve the quality of cooperatives because this pattern is considered better than increasing the quantity of cooperatives. Quality cooperatives will be able to show their existence as economic pillars," he said. For the MSME sector, Yulizar added, the government continues to encourage the growth and role of MSMEs. As of April 2022, there are 127,587 units, consisting of 124,601 micro businesses, 2,900 small business units and 86 medium business units.

Empowerment of cooperatives and SMEs is an integral part of national development which aims to create a just and prosperous society, in addition to providing a real picture of the implementation of people-based economic development. "The government also provides facilitation and programs to support these development efforts, in accordance with Government Regulation Number 7 of 2002," he said. The government also continues to encourage the progress of MSMEs through various patterns, such as facilitating licensing services, supporting access to financing from banks and financial institutions, and digitizing MSMEs. "Programs such as halal facilitation, product standards, cooperative MSME partnerships, digitization, OSS-based NIB issuance and e-commerce-based promotion and marketing are also present in the empowerment and development of MSMEs," he said. "We have also facilitated the implementation of regional coordination meetings for cooperative management to make empowerment programs successful and support the development of MSMEs in Babylon," he said.

Source: https://babel.antaranews.com/berita/278785/pemprov-babel-develop-economy-berbasis-koperasi-dan-umkm