Prabowo Reveals Reason for Closing 800 State Firms, Says Country Can Save Trillions

President Prabowo Subianto has taken decisive action to close 700 to 800 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that continue to record losses. The target is for this mass reduction to be completed by the end of this year. To date, the government claims it has already cut 240 SOEs deemed to be underperforming. “If I’m not mistaken, we will end up closing approximately 800 state companies, at least 700,” Prabowo asserted during a speech at the closing of the NU 2026 National Conference of Religious Scholars and Grand Conference in Bangkalan on Tuesday (23/6). The former Defence Minister admitted he was shocked upon first taking office as President to find the number of companies under the SOE umbrella had ballooned to 1,000 entities. Unfortunately, instead of providing dividends to the state, the majority of these subsidiaries and sub-subsidiaries were ‘sick’ and loss-making. “Now we have closed approximately how many, Minister of State Secretary? We have closed roughly 240. None of them are profitable, they keep losing money,” he stated.

Prabowo also detailed the mathematical calculations regarding the scale of the budgetary waste that has occurred. This waste primarily stems from maintaining management structures, such as the salaries and facilities of unproductive directors and commissioners. He gave an example: if one company has a minimum of four directors and four commissioners, with a minimum assumed salary of Rp 50 million per month, the state must fork out up to Rp 400 million per month for just one company. This figure does not yet include annual incentives or bonuses. Through this liquidation measure, Prabowo claims the state treasury can save up to trillions of rupiah. Furthermore, he signalled that the existence of these unhealthy SOE subsidiaries is often used as a shield for corrupt practices. “We are saving trillions just from closing companies that are not right, and that is the way those directors cover up their corruption,” he added bluntly.

Previously, signals of this SOE clean-up had strengthened following a limited meeting in Kertanegara between Prabowo and the Minister of Investment and Downstreaming, who is also the Head of the Danantara Investment Management Agency (BPI), Rosan Roeslani, on Sunday (21/6). In that report, out of a total of 1,077 existing SOE entities, 258 entities were cut through a consolidation process. The immediate target is for the government to comb through again to narrow the SOE defence to just around 300 entities. This step is considered key to boosting efficiency, strengthening good corporate governance, and cutting the chain of high-cost bureaucracy that burdens the state budget. The transformation of SOEs and the optimisation of state assets is part of the Prabowo administration’s grand agenda to turn the nation’s wealth into a sustainable economic growth engine, enhance Indonesia’s competitiveness on the global stage, and ensure every state asset provides maximum added value for the people’s prosperity.