Regarding Loans Of IDR 7.8 T From Bank Pembangunan Asia, Staff Of Erick Thohir: Award For BUMN Transformation

Special Staff (Stafsus) of the Minister of SOEs Arya Sinulingga. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Special Staff (Staffsus) of the Minister of SOEs Arya Sinulingga assessed that the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the form of loan funds worth US $ 500 million or equivalent to 7.8 trillion is an award for the transformation of SOEs.

"It is part of their appreciation for the steps taken by SOEs and they appreciate it. So, this is also a contribution from what SOEs have done in carrying out the transformation," said Arya Sinulingga, quoted from Antara, Friday, November 18.

Arya said the ADB saw that the structural reforms carried out by SOEs were very good, so they appreciated and saw that when in the midst of a pandemic, all the transformation steps taken by SOEs were mostly successful.

Thus, ADB took the initiative to provide program support through the APBN.

"The funds were not given to the Ministry of SOEs, but were given to the State Budget. This is a contribution made by the Ministry of SOEs to SOEs that have carried out the transformation so that they (ADB) appreciate it. So, it is not a project, it is not a project fund, it is a program fund and not directly to SOEs. They give it to the state budget," said Arya.

Previously, ADB had approved a policy-based loan worth 500 million US dollars to support BUMN reform in Indonesia.

The loan will include the first subprogram under the BUMN reform program, which will help Indonesia to increase the efficiency and resilience of SOEs, as well as strengthen its corporate governance framework.

Senior ADB Public Management Specialist for Southeast Asia Yurenda Basnett assesses that SOEs can play a very important role in encouraging the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic which is inclusive and sustainable in Indonesia.

However, in order to provide greater value for the community, the structural weakness of SOEs must be overcome. ADB is happy to be able to participate in supporting the government's efforts to reform SOEs.

This program is in line with the comprehensive and ambitious 2020-2024 BUMN Roadmap, and introduces a series of reforms to transform SOEs and ensure its contribution to Indonesia's ideals to become a high-income country by 2045.

The program will support reducing the number of SOEs, as well as requiring SOEs to focus on their core operations so that SOEs become financially feasible and can provide essential public services efficiently.