TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sutan Adil Hendra, who heads House of Representatives Commission X overseeing education, youth, sports, tourism, arts and cultural affairs, criticized the government for planning to issue bonds by using state-owned enterprises' assets. Sutan viewed that the move was not the best option to finance the 2017 State Budget.
"Finance Minister Sri Mulyani's statement saying that SOEs' asset value used as collateral will not diminish is questionable. It seems that the government is taking a shortcut and lacks creativity," Sutan said in a press release on Friday, October 21, 2016.
According to Sutan, making SOEs' assets as collateral means sharing profits to those who purchases the bonds.
"Our SOEs will become milking cows, and the government as shareholders will suffer losses," Sutan added.
Sutan went on to say that profits generated by SOEs would diminish because they have to pay the interests, while funds pooled from the sales of the bonds would go to the state budget.
"Finally, SOEs share prices will drop, and this will be dangerous for our country," Sutan said.
Sutan suggested that the government should boost the tax revenue, for instance, instead of making SOEs' assets as collaterals.
ANTARA