Government Prepares SBSN As Alternative Management Of Hundreds Of Billion Waqf Funds

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati. (Photo: Ministry of Finance)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani said that the government has provided investment instruments as well as APBN financing in accordance with Islamic principles in the form of State Sharia Securities (SBSN).

The instrument is said to be an alternative for the management of waqf funds, which are currently collected in a number of national banks.

"We are providing more and more investment instruments, especially those based on sharia, which people are starting to look for," he said Monday, January 25.

Minister of Finance added that currently the collected waqf funds have reached IDR 328 billion. This amount is deposited with a number of banks that receive waqf funds.

"The government is aggressively promoting Islamic literacy in society so that investment instruments issued by the state can be absorbed properly," he said.

Most recently, on Wednesday, January 20, Sri Mulyani set a plan to build public infrastructure with funds sourced from SBSN of IDR 27.58 trillion for the entire 2021 period.

Meanwhile, several priority infrastructure sectors targeted by this program include the Islamic religious sector, the transportation sector, the water resources sector, the higher education sector, and the Islamic religious education sector. Then, the railway sector, the research and science sector, the technology sector, the environment sector, to the roads and bridges sector.

"Project financing through National Sharia Securities is the government's commitment to building various national strategic projects," said the Minister.

For information, project development through SBSN funding throughout 2020 amounts to IDR 23.3 trillion. Of this figure, the project realization that was successfully realized reached 90 percent.