he Haj Fund Management Agency (BPKH) is planning to invest in Saudi Arabia to help Indonesians who want to go on the haj or umrah (minor haj) in Mecca.
BPKH head Anggito Abimanyu said the agency would directly invest in hotels, airlines and catering services to provide haj pilgrims with better services in Saudi Arabia.
“Hopefully, agreements will be made before this year’s haj season,” Anggito said in Jakarta on Thursday as quoted by kontan.co.id.
He revealed that the agency was expected to manage Rp 121 trillion (US$8.56 billion) this year. Last year, it managed Rp 113 trillion.
Fifty percent of the funds were currently invested in sharia banks and 30 percent in sharia debt papers, with the remaining 20 percent to be invested directly in services for haj pilgrims, he said.
Anggito explained that the agency planned to invest 15 percent of the funds – roughly Rp 18.15 trillion – in Saudi Arabia and said he hoped the investment could be implemented this year, though the process would continue next year if necessary.
With the funds, he added, the agency would invest in two hotels in Medina, three hotels in Mecca and one catering service in Mecca.
Anggito said the haj funds were not used to invest in infrastructure projects even though, initially, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had an idea to use the funds to finance such projects through the non-state budget investment financing (PINA) scheme. (bbn)
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