"The investment value of state-owned enterprises is expected to reach Rp 764 trillion in 2019," said President Joko “Jokowi’ Widodo in his remarks at the annual meeting of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The increase, he further said, would be mostly related to infrastructure. SOEs are currently involved in 62 strategic infrastructure projects worth Rp 347 trillion.

However, Jokowi warned the nation that infrastructure development would not be enough to tackle poverty, unemployment and inequality. In an era of global competition, capacity building must also be accelerated, especially in dealing with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), he said.

"Related to that, the government acknowledges the importance of expanding people's access to productive economic activities, to promote the progress and productivity of small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] that are the backbone of the Indonesian economy," the President said.

In the last two years, the government has slashed the interest on government-backed micro loans (KUR) from 22 percent to 9 percent in 2016, as part of efforts to boost the SME sector.

The government also issued the tax amnesty program, which aims to encourage SMEs to report their assets to the state. (ags)

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