Jakarta, Dec. 28 -- Indonesia's Ministry of Cooperatives is pressing village-based cooperatives to prioritize locally made goods, a policy aimed at strengthening domestic supply chains and reducing reliance on imports as economic pressures mount.

"All local products must be absorbed by cooperatives," Ahmad Zabadi, secretary at the Ministry of Cooperatives, said in a statement released in Jakarta on Sunday, underscoring the government's push to anchor economic growth at the village level.

Zabadi said the government-backed Red and White Village Cooperatives are designed to function as aggregators for micro and ultra-micro enterprises, collecting output from small producers and channeling it into wider markets.

He stressed that village co...