Erick Thohir's Outspoken About PTPN Having IDR 43 Trillion In Debt: Old Illness, Covert Corruption

Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of SOEs)

JAKARTA - SOE Minister Erick Thohir suspects that there is corrupt behavior behind the debt of Holding Perkebunan Nusantara or PTPN III (Persero) worth IDR 43 trillion. According to him, the debt exists because of covert corruption.

Therefore, Erick also promised to open the case. In a working meeting with Commission VI of the House of Representatives (DPR), Erick explained that the mounting debt in SOEs is mostly old debt.

Erick asked for parliamentary support to ensure that debt restructuring was carried out by a number of state-owned companies, not just to delay the problem. Currently, said Erick, his party is facilitating the restructuring of PTPN III's debt with 50 domestic and foreign creditors. The scheme that was passed was in the form of an inter-creditor agreement (ICA) with all members of the US dollar syndicated creditors and SMBC Singapore as an agent.

"When PTPN has a debt of IDR 43 trillion and this is an old disease that we already know and this is something I feel is hidden corruption, which must be exposed and prosecuted for doing this," he said in a meeting with Commission VI of the DPR, quoted Thursday, September 23.

Furthermore, Erick reminded that the restructuring of SOE debt is not just extending bank interest installments, but is transformed through refocusing on programs or projects that bring profits to the company.

"After restructuring, PTPN must carry out massive efficiency in its operations. Second, corporate action, corporate action there is one of them, indeed it is demanded. We initiated earlier, in addition to efficiency, an increase in production," he said.

For your information, one of the results of the credit improvement efforts has finally paid off. It was noted that until August 2021 PTPN III recorded a profit of IDR 2.3 trillion with sales increasing by 37 percent. In fact, this year the company is projected to experience a loss of IDR 1.4 trillion.

In addition, Erick admitted that he would also refocus PTPN III's budget for several programs that are considered superior, for example, oil palm cultivation to increase consumption of sugar production.

"And, if we benchmark state-owned oil palm with the private sector, it's not much like in the past. That's where there was an increase in revenue of 37 percent. So, focusing on PTPN's existing products is key," he said.

Performance of PTPN semester I 2021

PTPN III's performance improved in the first semester of 2021. The company managed to record a net profit of IDR 1.5 trillion. This gain is inversely proportional to the same period last year which was recorded at minus IDR 1.1 trillion.

In a meeting with Commission VI on September 20, PTPN III President Director Muhammad Abdul Ghani said that until June 2021, PTPN's performance far exceeded last year's, both in terms of operations and finance.

During the first half of this year, the holding company of this state-owned plantation company recorded sales of IDR 21.3 trillion or a 37 percent jump on an annual basis. In terms of productivity, various commodities managed by the company recorded an increase.

Palm oil productivity increased 112 percent to 9.87 tons per hectare. Then, the production of crude palm oil (CPO) reached 1.27 million tons.

According to Ghani, palm oil has an important contribution to the company's profits last semester. Then, the production of sugarcane commodities also rose to 73.3 tons per hectare.

Sugar cane derivative products such as sugar and molasses rose by 0.27 million tons and 0.11 tons, respectively. By the end of this year, the company targets to produce up to 800 thousand tons of sugar.