President Prabowo Subianto wants the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to share its best practices on how a country can better run its sovereign wealth fund, according to reporting from Jakarta Globe.
The government launched the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) under the previous Jokowi administration back in 2021. Its portfolio includes the Belawan New Container Terminal and the Trans-Java Toll Road. INA has attracted many investments from major economies with the UAE making a USD 10 billion commitment in 2021. This was the largest commitment ever made by a country to the sovereign wealth fund. Fast forward to 2024, Prabowo recently asked his Emirati counterpart Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also known as MBZ, for some advice regarding the INA, according to state news agency Antara.
“[The UAE] once helped us when we first established our sovereign wealth fund INA. Now we want to expand the capacity of our sovereign wealth fund. We want to learn from the UAE’s experience,” Prabowo told MBZ during a state visit to Abu Dhabi over the weekend.
“Indonesia views His Majesty as a truly successful leader, someone who looks far ahead into the future. He has rapidly modernized the UAE. We want to learn from His Majesty [MBZ],” Prabowo said.
Jakarta Globe says that Prabowo also has plans to make the state investment firm Danantara the equivalent of Singapore’s Temasek. The body will act as a “superholding” to manage and optimize Indonesia’s extensive state assets.
According to Danantara’s boss Muliaman Darmansyah Hadad, Danantara will function similarly to INA. Danantara, however, will have a wider reach as it will also manage state assets outside the state budget, says Jakarta Globe.
The UAE runs several sovereign wealth funds, namely Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), and ADQ. These three sovereign wealth funds invested a combined USD 36.5 billion in 2023, a Global SWF report showed.
Source: Jakarta Globe
Photo: BPMI Setpres/Muchlis Jr
