JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto will launch a new sovereign wealth fund called “Danantara” on February 24 with assets under management exceeding $900 billion, according to a video statement shared by the government late on Thursday.
Prabowo said the fund will invest in sustainable high impact projects across sectors such as renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, downstream industries and food production.
“All these projects will contribute to achieving our committed target of 8% economic growth,” Prabowo said, referring to the government’s goal to achieve annual economic growth of 8%by 2029, compared to 5% growth last year.
He made the statement in a video at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
The statement on the expected launch came after the creation of Danantara, modelled after Singapore’s investment arm Temasek, received parliament’s approval last week.
Danantara will take over all government holdings in state companies, which include leading lenders Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, and Bank Negara Indonesia, from the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises.
Prabowo also said the government has saved more than $20 billion in its budget through efficiency measures, equivalent to about 10% of Indonesia’s annual spending, and the savings will be used to finance more than 20 multi-billion dollar projects, such as investments in nickel, bauxite, copper and other critical minerals.
(Reporting by Stefanno SulaimanEditing by Tomasz Janowski and Susan Fenton)
