Prabowo to Launch Danantara's USD 20 Bn Venture on Feb. 24

The President has announced that the country's new investment agency Danantara will be launched on February 24 with an initial capital of around USD 20 billion.

President Prabowo Subianto has announced the official launch date of Feb. 24 for Danantara Indonesia, the country’s new sovereign wealth fund with more than USD 900 billion in assets under management.

Danantara is distinct from the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) and is to have around USD 20 billion in initial capital.

“We will invest our natural resources and state assets into sustainable, high-impact projects across sectors such as renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, downstream industries and food production,” Prabowo said in his speech on Thursday at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

The President added that these projects would all contribute to achieve his administration’s economic growth target of 8 percent.

“We plan to start with between 15 and 20 projects worth billions of dollars [each], which will provide significant added value to our country,” he said in a separate statement.

Prabowo’s announcement comes after the House of Representatives passed a bill on Feb. 4 to revise Law No. 19/2003 on State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), paving the way for Danantara’s establishment.

Deputy State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Kartika “Tiko” Wirjoatmodjo explained that under the revised law, Danantara would serve as both an SOEs super holding company and Indonesia’s investment vehicle, akin to Singapore's Temasek.

“Please bear with us as we ensure the proper details for this [institution], which hopefully will be launched [no later than] next month,” Tiko said on Tuesday at the Mandiri Investment Forum 2025.

Danantara was initially slated to launch on Nov. 7 last year, but its debut was postponed indefinitely for multiple reasons.

Experts have suggested this was partly due to an ongoing tug-of-war of political interests among key stakeholders that complicated the process, while also noting that passing the SOEs Law revision would be possible only after stakeholders had struck “compromises”.

While the final draft of the new SOEs Law is as yet publicly unavailable, a Jan. 16 version seen by The Jakarta Post indicates that Danantara will have significant control over SOEs.

The SOEs minister will still have some authority however, including the power to give assignments to SOEs and to conduct investigations into all entities under the new investment agency. The minister is also to chair Danantara’s supervisory board and oversee the agency’s key performance indicators.

Moreover, the agency will be responsible for managing dividends from an investment holding company and the SOEs it manages, which can be used as capital for entities under Danantara.

“When the agency makes a profit, a portion may be disbursed as dividends to the state budget, after setting aside provisions to cover investment risks and/or increase capital accumulation,” the draft states.

Toto Pranoto, an SOEs analyst from the University of Indonesia who is also consulting on the SOEs Law revision, explained that the new structure positioned Danantara as the primary "executing agency" for managing state-owned enterprises, while the SOEs minister’s role would be limited to oversight through the supervisory board.

He acknowledged that this setup could lead to dual leadership in SOEs management, but said it was still a relatively sound governance structure.

“This is the most viable compromise. Danantara’s establishment is protected by law, while the role of the SOEs Ministry is maintained through a different function,” he told the Post on Feb. 4.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Indonesia Launches USD 183 Million Free Health Screening to Prevent Early Deaths

Indonesia launched an annual free health screening on Monday, a 3 trillion rupiah (USD 183.54 million) initiative to prevent early deaths that the country's health ministry said was its biggest ever undertaking.

Under the program, all Indonesians will eventually be entitled to a free screening on their birthday, the ministry said. The screening, which is not mandatory, includes blood pressure, tests to determine the risk of heart problems or stroke, and eye tests, the ministry said.

The program is initially targeting under-sixes and adults aged 18 and over, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told Reuters last week.

The leading causes of death in the world's fourth most populous nation include stroke, heart disease, and tuberculosis, data from the World Health Organization shows.

Budi said the 3 trillion rupiah allocation for the program was about 1 trillion less than originally planned after President Prabowo Subianto ordered budget cuts to help fund election promises, including giving free meals to school children.

At a health center in Jakarta on Monday, about 30 people had signed up for the screening on the first day.

Teacher Ramika Dewi Saragih said she underwent checks on her breasts, cervix, eyes, and more and was not apprehensive. "I was really looking forward to this," the 33-year-old said, adding that more people should take up the opportunity.

A health ministry spokesperson said the target for the checks this year was 100 million people.

Budi said the program was intended to promote preventive care as Indonesians tended to check for illnesses only when they already had them.

"Our culture is checking when we're already sick ... that cuts closest to the grave," he said.

He said the program was the biggest the ministry had ever undertaken, surpassing COVID-19 vaccinations.

Budi added the screening, which is to be rolled out at more than 20,000 health centers and clinics, also includes mental health tests to determine signs of depression or anxiety.

Researchers at the University of Indonesia's Economic and Social Research Institute warned the program could risk burdening the country's already-strained local health centers, citing uneven distribution of drugs or doctors.

Source: Reuters

Electric Cars Sales Surged in 2024, Fueling Energy Transition: Ministry

Domestic sales of electric cars in 2024 showed a positive increase, which supported improvements in energy transition, according to the Industry Ministry.

"With details of the domestic sales market share in 2024, for the xEV type (Hybrid, PHEV, and BEV), there was an increase of 60 percent from the previous year,” the ministry’s director general of metal, machinery, transportation equipment, and electronics industry, Setia Diarta, stated here on Wednesday (February 12).

Diarta remarked that the two- and three-wheeled motor vehicle industry recorded a production volume of 6.9 million units, with domestic sales of 6.3 million units.

Meanwhile, production in the four-wheeled segment of the motor vehicle industry reached 1.2 million units, with domestic sales of 865 thousand units.

"This figure shows the growth of public interest and concern for renewable energy vehicles," he stated while showing growth data in the electrification segment.

To foster the industry's continued growth, the ministry has set three policies that it claims will increase automotive sales in 2025.

In addition, the government provides import duty and sales tax incentives on government-borne luxury goods (PPnBM-DTP) for industrial companies that are building production facilities or developing production lines for battery-based electric motor vehicles.

Furthermore, tax incentives of the government-borne value tax (PPN DTP) according to the domestic content level (TKDN) will be provided for passenger and commercial vehicles marketed in the country.

The last policy that can stimulate vehicle sales in Indonesia is the provision of certain PPnBM for environmentally friendly vehicles (LCEV program).

These vehicles include LCGC/KBH2, Hybrid, BEV, hydrogen fuel cell, and flexy engines using bioethanol, as well as an additional PPnBM DTP of three percent for hybrid vehicles that participate in the LCEV program.

Source: Antaranews