Government to accelerate sale of unprofitable, non-strategic state firms<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government is contemplating speeding up the sales of several
\nunprofitable and burdensome state enterprises, a minister says,
\nadding that the firms do not have any obligations to provide
\npublic services and are not strategic in any way.<\/p>\n
\"We have too many state enterprises and most of them are not
\ncontributing any benefit to the state. The government will no
\nlonger maintain such companies since they are burdensome. We
\nshould be realistic in seeing this issue,\" State Minister of
\nState Enterprises Sugiharto told reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The decision to accelerate the sales was taken at a meeting
\nbetween Vice President Jusuf Kalla and economic ministers
\nincluding Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie,
\nMinister of Trade Mari Pangestu, Minister of Transportation Hatta
\nRadjasa, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Poernomo
\nYusgiantoro, Minister of Forestry MS Kaban and Minister of
\nIndustry Andung Nitimihardja.<\/p>\n
The meeting was a follow-up to the government's blueprint for
\nstate enterprises that was arranged and issued by the Office of
\nState Minister of State Enterprises earlier this year. The
\nblueprint includes plans to merge and sell a number of companies.<\/p>\n
Sugiharto said that of a total of 158 state firms, 10
\ncontributed 80 percent of revenues to the state from state
\nenterprises. Last year, state enterprises recorded a combined net
\nprofit of Rp 30 trillion (about US$3.2 billion) from assets worth
\nmore than Rp 1,300 trillion.<\/p>\n
However, not all profits went into the state budget since most
\nof the funds are used to capitalize development of the companies.<\/p>\n
Sugiharto said it was the time for the government to remap the
\nfunction of the companies and decide which ones should be
\nmaintained by the state and which sold to the private sector.<\/p>\n
\"My office will consult with other related ministries
\noverseeing technical affairs of state firms to decide which of
\nthem should be maintained, downsized, merged or sold,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The government will conduct a due diligence before selling or
\nmerging the companies in a bid to gain maximum proceeds from the
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
Sugiharto said that the government would keep its ownership of
\nstate oil and gas company PT Pertamina as it was not only deemed
\nprofitable but also strategic in ensuring energy supplies for the
\nnation.<\/p>\n
\"We will maintain the 10 largest and most profitable
\ncompanies, including Pertamina,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The other nine are PT Telkom, Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara
\nIndonesia, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, PT Jamsostek, PT Aneka Tambang,
\nPT Kimia Farma, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara and PT Perusahaan
\nGas Negara.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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