BRI business and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) director Muhammad Irfan said credit disbursement for SOEs in 2016 would increase 28.6 per cent from 2015. 2015 loans to SOEs stood at Rp 70 trillion.

“The loan increase to SOEs from Rp 70 trillion to Rp 90 trillion is in line with the government’s expectation to have SOEs operate as agents of the national economy,” he said during a visit to Sukabumi in West Java, as reported by kompas.com on Wednesday.

The loans, he further explained, were mainly allocated to infrastructure, energy and food security programs.

In the first quarter of the year, BRI has allocated Rp 75 trillion in loans to SOEs. The logistics agency Bulog, state-owned electricity company PLN, and state-owned energy giant Pertamina were among state-owned companies that received the loans.