Get Ready, SOE Minister Collects IDR 45 Trillion Dividend This Year

SOE Minister Erick Thohir. (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) targets state-owned companies' dividends in 2023 to reach IDR 43 trillion to IDR 45 trillion. The target is much higher than this year's realization, which amounted to IDR 40 trillion.

SOE Minister Erick Thohir explained that the company's contribution target to the country next year is in line with the recovery of SOEs' performance.

Therefore, the company's dividend will reach the nominal value that was given before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So it's the same as 2020, but in 2024 we actually want to push dividends higher," he said in a Working Meeting with Commission VI of the House of Representatives (DPR), Tuesday, June 7.

Erick said that this year, BUMN dividends contributed to the state reached IDR 40 trillion.

This figure is higher than previously projected, where the Ministry of SOEs estimates that the 2022 dividend will only be in the range of IDR 36.4 trillion.

"We can see the target in 2022, which was IDR 36.4 trillion, of course thanks to the cooperation of all of us, of course I thank the Directors and Commissioners as well, that we can provide dividends of IDR 40 trillion, which is slightly lower than in 2020," he said.

Meanwhile, the total dividends given by SOEs to the state in 2021 will only reach IDR 29.5 trillion.

This value decreased drastically because 90 percent of SOEs had their performance contracted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then, in 2019 the company distributed dividends of IDR 50 trillion. However, it fell to IDR 44 trillion in 2020.

Erick admits that the COVID-19 pandemic has become a very burdensome moment for the company.

"This dividend is quite heavy at the beginning if we look at it when in 2019 it was almost IDR 50 trillion, then in 2020 it was IDR 44 trillion, then in 2021 we initially believed it could be IDR 40 trillion at that time, I remember I apologized because there was COVID-19 in the end, we can only go down to IDR 29.5 trillion," he said.

On the other hand, Erick said, the Ministry of BUMN has also succeeded in reducing BUMN debt and capital to 35 percent from the previous 39 percent.

Erick said the performance improvement also boosted the growth in the valuation of SOEs.

"We can see now that state-owned companies, only four state-owned companies, Telkom, Mandiri, BNI, BRI, have now reached a valuation of Rp. 1,600 trillion in assets. Their dividends also continue to rise," he concluded.