Prabowo Targets 750 More SOEs to be Closed by the End of 2026

President Prabowo Subianto. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto targets the number of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) to be cut to a maximum of 300 companies by the end of 2026.

With this target, more than 750 SOEs will be closed or downsized from the previous number of 1,074 entities.

Prabowo said that the arrangement of SOEs was carried out after the government found the number of red plate companies was much more than expected. In fact, a number of SOEs have children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren of companies.

"When we formed Danantara, that is our sovereign fund, the Sovereign Wealth Fund. We found that there are 1,074 SOEs. And SOEs have subsidiaries, and some have grandchildren. There are even those who have grandchildren. This is extraordinary," said Prabowo in the Annual Meeting of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly and joint session of the Indonesian House of Representatives and the Indonesian DPD in 2026, Friday, August 14.

Prabowo admitted that he had previously estimated the number of SOEs to be only around 300 to 400 companies. However, after the arrangement was made, the government found that the number reached more than a thousand entities.

"I thought that SOEs were 300 or 400. 1,074. And these SOEs sometimes work as they please. They are not responsible to the nation, to the country. The government is not considered. I don't understand how this can happen," he said.

Prabowo assessed that there were still many SOEs that were unproductive and continued to suffer losses. Therefore, the government will retain companies that are able to create added value for the country and the community.

"Brothers, there are too many unproductive SOEs. It's a loss to report the profit. It's a good thing that it's a loss," he said.

Prabowo then revealed that the government had closed 290 SOEs as part of the restructuring process. The number will continue to increase until the end of the year.

"But I am proud today that I want to report to the honorable Assembly, today we have closed 290 SOEs. On December 31, 2026, we target to have at most 300 SOEs. We will close more than 750 SOEs. Only productive ones, only those who create added value for the people will we maintain," explained Prabowo.

He called the move one of the world's largest corporate restructurings.

In addition to simplifying the number of companies, the streamlining of SOEs is also said to have provided efficiency in operating costs.

"This is probably the largest corporate restructuring in the world. With the streamlining of the number of SOEs today alone, we have saved overhead costs of around Rp50 trillion," he said.

The savings come from various cost components, ranging from the salaries of directors and commissioners, building rental, vehicle rental to official travel.

"Just from the salaries of directors, commissioners, building rentals, car rentals, official travel, bla bla bla bla we have saved more than Rp50 trillion. Our target is December 31, our target is that we must save more than Rp70 trillion, brothers and sisters," said Prabowo.

Prabowo assessed that the efficiency could be diverted to community needs, such as improving health facilities, renovating schools, and building houses for the people.

"We can imagine with Rp50 trillion how many Puskesmas we can repair, how many schools we can renovate, how many houses for our people we can give," he concluded.