Indonesia to have only 30 SOEs in 2034

Minister of State-owned Enterprises Erick Thohir at a press conference in Jakarta on January 2, 2023. (Photo: antaranews.com)

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia will keep only 30 State-owed enterprises (SOE) by 2034 following the country’s consolidation roadmap between 2024 and 2034, according to Indonesian SOEs Minister Erick Thohir.

Speaking at a press conference on January 2, Thohir said that the decision to consolidate state-owned enterprises into 30 aims to develop state companies as the bulwark of the national economy and avoid excessive government monopolies in too many economic sectors.

He said that Indonesia will develop the ecosystem including SOEs, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), regional enterprises, and the private sector.

If an extraordinary situation occurs, SOEs, as the bulwark of the national economy, could then intervene, he added.

Earlier, the minister affirmed that the transformation to improve and enhance SOEs' performance will continue despite leadership succession in 2024.

SOEs' transformation has successfully dispelled negative public perceptions deriding government companies as inherently corrupt, as SOEs recorded the consolidated income of 124.7 trillion Rp (8 billion USD) in 2021 and 155 trillion Rp by September 2022, proving their capabilities to compete economically, he said.

Thohir affirmed that he will continue to create more breakthroughs, including by consolidating a large number of state companies to only 30 firms, to create healthy and dependable companies for national development./.