BUMN Minister Erick Thohir's Steps During The COVID-19 Pandemic

JAKARTA - The corona virus pandemic or COVID-19 not only has a negative impact on the health sector, but also on all sectors. In the midst of these difficult conditions, the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) claims that it wants to be the locomotive of national development. Various steps were taken by BUMN during this pandemic.

BUMN Minister Erick Thohir said that in accordance with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) 's direction, BUMN had four strategic actions that had been and would continue to be carried out to support government programs.

First, incentives and direct assistance. Erick said, PT PLN (Persero) as a state-owned company engaged in the energy sector, also supported government programs during the pandemic, namely by providing free electricity subsidies for underprivileged 450 VA customers, while 900 VA customers were given a discount on electricity bills.

"This may come from the direct government which decides it can also be extended. I think this issue PLN will also be a very important thing to do," he said, in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, May 20.

Then, Erick continued, Bank Himbara consisting of PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BBRI), PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk (BMRI), PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (BBNI), and PT Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) Tbk (BBTN) has also restructured credit for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) during this pandemic.

"Our Himbara has also carried out a restructuring of Rp120 trillion, in which the MSMEs amounted to almost Rp90 trillion," he explained.

According to Erick, during this pandemic, BUMN was engaged as the party that distributed social assistance (bansos) for basic necessities, as well as direct assistance from the government through its platforms. Bank Himbara to distribute direct cash assistance (BLT) and PT POS for distribution of basic food assistance.

Second, stabilization of food stocks and prices. Erick admitted that currently he has a task from the president to be able to help with the availability, stability of stocks and prices of staple foods in the market. Therefore, he asked, BUMN not only buy chicken but also fish from fishermen.

According to Erick, the fish purchased by SOEs can later be distributed to various needs, one of which is social assistance.

"We bought chicken yesterday, because the price went down. Now we are studying fish," he said.

However, Erick has not explained in detail the mechanism and the quantity of this fish purchase. Currently, several BUMNs have been engaged in the fisheries sector, one of which is Perum Perikanan Indonesia, aka Perum Perindo.

Early May, several BUMNs were asked to buy meat and eggs from breeders. This policy was carried out because the price of chickens at the farmer level had dropped so that they suffered losses of up to IDR 8,000 per kg.

A number of BUMNs that can be assigned are PT Berdikari (Persero) and PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (Persero) or PPI. They were asked to absorb 4 million chickens at a price of Rp. 17,500 per kg.

"The others, we keep trying to distribute rice, sugar, and of course we are in synergy with the Minister of Agriculture and also the Minister of Trade on this focus. We (BUMN) are the distribution only," he explained.

Third, handling health. BUMN Pharmacy, said Erick, was asked to increase the production and procurement of drugs such as Chloroquine and Avigan. Apart from that, it also made breakthroughs in the health sector.

"We are collaborating with the Eastman Institute, the Ministry of Health, international institutions such as CEPI, Sinobac, to try to make breakthroughs regarding vaccines or medicines," he said.

Not only that, Erick admitted, he will go directly to the field to visit the respective pharmaceutical BUMN companies to ensure the development of the manufacture of personal protective equipment (PPE).

"Biofarma, which I will try to visit tomorrow, I want to check directly, PTDI and others. Can we also start producing local ventilators and PCR kits," he said.

Erick said that BUMN Telkom had also collaborated with various ministries and launched a self-protection application. This application has even been successfully downloaded by millions of Indonesians. However, he admitted, this application is still far from perfect, so it will continue to be improved.

Fourth, BUMN restructuring. According to Erick, in the current condition 90 percent of companies will definitely be affected. Meanwhile, the only BUMNs that were not affected by the pandemic were Telkom, the health industry and palm oil.

"The others were crushed, because of that we continue to restructure," he said.

Furthermore, Erick said, his party also reduces unnecessary capex and opex of BUMN. One of them, PLN, which was cut by nearly Rp. 39 trillion. Not only that, various similar things were also carried out in many BUMN companies.

"We are also doing debt restructuring. Alhamdulillah, yesterday, for example, Inalum's global bonds, most of it was used for previous recycle bonds with higher interest prices. Now we are doing these things besides extending, but also looking for cheaper interest rates and this is an opportunity "We have already received nearly 3.6 billion US dollars in things like this," he said.

Erick admitted that he was grateful to receive assistance from the Ministry of Finance in terms of injecting funds. This is because, he said, many state-owned companies have their debts to be paid.

"Apart from that, we also have to carry out the momentum requested by the President directly, regarding reform, transformation, restructuring. We must be able to build a supply chain, namely food security, health security and our energy security," he explained.