Danantara Indonesia will invest $20 billion in a wide range of projects from metal processing to artificial intelligence, President Prabowo Subianto said.

JAKARTA] Indonesia launched the Danantara investment fund on Monday (Feb 24), a high-stakes, multi-billion-dollar initiative designed to consolidate the country’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs), while catalysing investment and fuelling the nation’s ambitious growth trajectory.

The fund will invest US$20 billion (S$27 billion) in 20 projects to drive development in the nation. Read more at straitstimes.com.

A sweeping overhaul of how Indonesia runs its powerful state companies will create a multibillion-dollar investment vehicle that could give President Prabowo Subianto a major cache of funds to deploy in his effort to supercharge growth.

He wants to tap into the fund's assets -- planned to be more than $900 billion -- to boost Indonesia to developed economy status, despite expert concern about its governance.

Washington may not have a sovereign wealth fund, but almost half the U.S. states do. Indeed, the earliest precursor of a national sovereign wealth fund was established in the United States: in 1803, Ohio created a land trust to finance public education in the state.