JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa is studying the possibility of taking over PT Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM) from PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BBRI) to be used as a special mission vehicle (SMV) under the Ministry of Finance.
The strategic steps are aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the distribution of People's Business Loans (KUR) to MSMEs, as well as reducing the leakage of interest subsidies, which are said to be worth tens of trillions of rupiah every year.
Purbaya revealed that the plan had been discussed with the Chief Executive Officer of the Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency (BPI) (Danantara Indonesia) Rosan Roeslani, as well as the Head of the State-Owned Enterprises Regulatory Agency, Dony Oskaria.
"I am discussing with Danantara to take the KUR. One of the units. I am actually interested in PNM," he told the media, Wednesday, February 4.
According to him, the discussion is still in its early stages and has not produced a final decision and if PNM is officially under the Ministry of Finance as a SMV, it will be used as a KUR distributor institution that fully functions as a government policy instrument.
Purbaya even mentioned the possibility of acquiring or buying PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) Tbk if necessary.
"So my plan is, I will use it (PNM), if given, as a distributor of KUR that is really a government program. Later I will buy BRI if necessary," he said.
He said that currently the Ministry of Finance must allocate around Rp. 40 trillion per year to pay for KUR interest subsidies.
Purbaya assessed that if PNM was managed directly by the Ministry of Finance, the funds could be transferred into productive working capital with a low-interest financing scheme.
"If I have a distributor unit, I give Rp. 40 trillion every year. By giving low interest to KUR customers, in four years I have a small bank with a capital of Rp. 160 trillion. That's big and can provide better KUR, and my money doesn't disappear every year," he said.
Going forward, Purbaya ensures that communication with Danantara will continue to discuss the option of acquiring PNM.
"The discussion is on and off. Yes, no, yes, no. If I ask Dony (Oskaria), I want to. I asked Rosan (Roeslani) also wants. 'Let's go'. It's not a walk," he said.
In the midst of negotiations that are still intense with BPI Danantara, Purbaya said that the Ministry of Finance has prepared an alternative swap scheme, one of which is by exchanging PNM with the Ministry of Finance's SMV, PT Geo Dipa Energi.
"BRI is an open company, can we not just buy and sell? I don't know, but if I need to I will exchange it with Geo Dipa. I have a Geo Dipa company, Geo Dipa geothermal, I used to want to exchange it with them (Danantara). But there has been no offer, it is being calculated," he said.
Apart from fiscal efficiency, Purbaya admitted that his interest in PNM was also driven by the quality of human resources owned by the company.
He assessed that PNM had an advantage in microfinance assistance that the bureaucracy of the Ministry of Finance did not have.
"My employees can't be experts in microloan assessment, in PNM people are good at it," he said.
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