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Bisnis Indonesia - Siasat BUMN jaga resiliensi
2 May 2024
By Ana Noviani
Global uncertainty and dynamic domestic conditions are forcing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to continuously adapt and transform. Numerous steps have been prepared by the State-owned Enterprises Ministry and state-owned corporations to maintain resilience and sustain acceleration.
These steps include integrating a sustainable business model and implementing state-owned corporations as pioneers for green economy development in Indonesia.
At Bisnis Indonesia BUMN Forum 2024 held on Tuesday (30/4), SOE Vice Minister Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said that Indonesia was still facing major economic challenges. He continued geopolitical conflicts also disrupted the supply chain, leading to fluctuations in energy commodity prices.
Meanwhile, Kartika, familiarly called Tiko, also stated that a delay in the monetary relaxation in the United States of America (USA) ignited capital outflow from the Indonesian financial market. Therefore, Bank Indonesia must increase the benchmark interest rate to 6.25% to stabilise rupiah.
“We do not know how much the US dollar will rise or whether there will be a capital flight back to the safe haven of the US dollar. We will continue to observe the equity outflow to see if bonds will stabilise as a result,” he said on Tuesday (30/4).
Tiko added that challenges also stemmed from domestic macroeconomic dynamics, not just external factors. One highlighted indicator is the high food inflation, which can continuously erode purchasing power and the ability of micro-scale debtors to make payments.
However, Indonesia’s economic growth is expected to still reach 5% in 2024. This optimism is sustained by strong domestic consumption, manufacturing, and investment prospect after the wait-and-see period of investors following the elections has passed.
Amid these challenges and opportunities, Tiko affirmed that SOEs continued to transform aggressively. In terms of organisational structure, the SOE Ministry led by Erick Thohir has reduced the number of companies from 120 to around 40 classified in 12 clusters.
“We expect these 12 clusters will be our engine to consolidate and ensure the health of SOEs, preventing them from becoming ticking time bombs like Jiwasraya, Garuda, and others,” Tiko stated.
Brilliant performance
The transformation effort of SOEs is reckoned to increase financial performance. The consolidated profit of SOEs has increased from Rp290 trillion in 2023 with a dividend payout of Rp80 trillion. In the next 2-3 years, the dividends of SOEs to the state are expected to surpass Rp100 trillion.
In the short term, Tiko continued that the SOE Ministry was currently preparing handover documents approaching the change in administration to ensure sustainable transition and the long-term health of SOEs.
Besides that, the SOE Ministry is also currently completing the 2024-2034 SOE roadmap that encompasses six transformation areas, including sustainable infrastructure development, mineral downstreaming, energy transition, financing for MSME upgrade, tourism development, and food independence and security.
SOE Ministry Secretary Rabin Indrajad Hattari added that his agency was currently preparing numerous new regulations on sustainable corporate principles. These include a green SOE roadmap encompassing strategies and targets for SOEs to achieve net zero emission, as well as a guideline on climate-related financial disclosure standards.
Pertamina New & Renewable Energy (PNRE) President Director John Anis said that his company was continuously developing new and renewable energy projects, including ones related to solar panels, geothermal, and bioethanol.
“Our solar panel capacity has reached 50 MW, which we expect will continue to develop. Our geothermal capacity has reached 600 MW, which we also target to increase,” John said.
The Pertamina Group entity is also targeting to collaborate in constructing a solar panel factory with a partner from China.
A green energy transition initiative has also been implemented by PT PLN (Persero). According to PLN Electricity System Planning EVP Warsono, renewable energy development in the next few years will reduce coal utilisation.
Besides boosting green energy mix, he continued that PLN would also accelerate decarbonisation efforts. Warsoni mentioned that PLN would continue to develop carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) technologies.
Meanwhile, sustainable financing distribution to the micro segment is continuously boosted by PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk (BMRI). As of December 2023, its active borrowers reached 1.22 million with outstanding loans amounting to Rp82 trillion.
Bank Mandiri Micro Development and Agent Banking SVP Ashraf Farhnaz said that the micro segment has a large potential. “Bank Mandiri has the technology to prepare the best services for MSMEs with digitalisation as its spearhead,” he stated.
