Indonesia to inject funds into state firms

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Thursday that the government would inject funds into state- owned companies and stop taking dividend from them this year to boost their competitiveness at the global arena.

As many as 48 trillion rupiah (some 3.8 billion U.S. dollars) of funds would start to be channeled to the state companies this year, said the president, who wanted the state firms to play a major role in promoting the development of the largest economy in Southeast Asia.

"Our state firms have been often asked for dividend to contribute to the state budget. They were requested to pay the dividend every year. How can they develop and grow (without enough capital)?" the president said.

Without the government financial support, he said, it is hard for the country's state firms to compete with fellows at the global level, such as Malaysia's state firm Petronas and Singapore 's state company Temasek, which all have grown faster.

Oversight over the use of the funds will be strengthened, he added.

Indonesia has more than 100 state-owned companies and plans to scale down the number in the future. Endi