VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Deputy Minister of State Enterprises, Pahala Mansury, has said the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) could draw global funding for the development of national infrastructure.

"SWF (is meant) for optimization of state enterprises assets, to ensure that the firms not only use investment resources to build infrastructure, but also draw foreign funds while continuing to run priority programs," Mansury said at the 11th Kompas 100 CEO Forum here on Thursday.

According to Mansury, SWF is among the government's innovations to grab investment opportunities for economic recovery amid the pandemic.

"In future, with the COVID-19 pandemic, for business transformation we need to make innovation of business capital. In mineral and coal sector for instance, we are not producing the commodity for export, but also improving its downstream industry. Hence, it could boost other sectors in Indonesia," he said.

Indonesia could set up a supply chain for electric vehicle batteries, he pointed out.

"Indonesia is rich in nickel. How this wealth could be exported in the form of battery instead of nickel, from upstream to downstream and storage system (needs to be explored)," he stated.

He said he is optimistic that the SWF would help draw more foreign funds to the country.

"Investment (will help) to attract another investment and run the national strategic programs (PSN). We have a presidential decree on PSN, but we hope that we can also invite investment in the sectors," Mansury remarked. (antaranews)