Minister Erick Thohir Answers Questions About Debt in SOEs

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir in a webinar on Tuesday gave an explanation about the debts of many SOEs and said it will be answered by imposing transformations within SOEs. 

“Many people ask me about the debt problem. I would answer them by saying that the debts are old debts,” said the Minister on September 28. “We will transform the business model, both under covid and after.”

He claims transformation is currently imposed that will make SOEs be more balanced between being a corporation and public services. Thohir said the Ministry is focusing on the core business model and ensuring its excellence.

The Minister said SOEs are currently pushed to establish a good business model that does not rely on project-based businesses as “we do not want a situation where many projects are left incomplete due to the large number of projects and let corruption happen because of improper business processes,” he added. 

Two examples of SOEs which Erick Thohir claims are being transformed and restructured due to the sheer amount of debt are Krakatau Steel and PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN). The former company is recorded to have a US$2 billion debt while the latter has US$3.1 billion debt and is currently turning it around to create profit post restructure. 

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CAESAR AKBAR