JAKARTA, Feb 20: Indonesia will reduce the number of state-owned companies from 139 to 69 by 2009 through privatisation or liquidation, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.

“The target in 2009 is set at 69 state-owned companies. Some of them should be merged, privatised or liquidated,” the official Antara news agency quoted him as saying late on Monday after a meeting at the state enterprises ministry. Kalla said that number could be further cut to 25 by 2015.

He said state firms' profit before tax was projected to grow 22.50 per cent this year to reach 88.75 trillion rupiah ($980 million), against a projected 72.44 trillion in 2006.

“Many state firms are very good in terms of performance and financial capacity, and only a few are not good and must be improved,” Kalla said—AFP