Jakarta – Only 25 of 139 state enterprises managed to book profits last year, although overall profits had risen significantly from a year earlier, according to an NGO report released Sunday.

BUMN Watch said the profits from state firms amounted to Rp 71.59 trillion (US$7.9 billion) last year, a 32 percent rise from the Rp 54.4 trillion booked in 2006. However, "from the 25 profitable firms, only 12 booked significant net profits," BUMN Watch chairman Naldy Nazar Haroen Naldy said as reported by Antara.

The profits mostly came from firms operating in the mining, energy, telecommunications and banking sectors, including PT Pertamina, PT Telkom, Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).

PT PGN, PT Aneka Tambang, PT Semen Gresik, PT PPA (Asset Management Company), PT Bank BTN, PT Pelindo II and PT Jasa Rahardja also recorded significant profits.

Among the most profitable enterprises, Pertamina and Telkom stood out, generating a net profit of Rp 24.5 trillion and 9.92 trillion respectively.

A total of 28 state firms suffered losses of Rp 2.94 trillion last year, with PT PLN contributing to 60 percent of that total with Rp 1.76 trillion.

The government has acknowledged that many state firms were still suffering losses, but aims to cut the unprofitable firms to 11 this year.

"In 2008, the government plans to reduce the number of unprofitable state companies to 11, and total losses to only Rp 0.23 trillion," the secretary to the state minister for state enterprises, Said Didu, was quoted as saying last month.

Naldy apparently shares the government's optimism, predicting that total losses from state firms this year will only amount to Rp 250 billion.

Didu and Naldy attributed the deficit in state firms mostly to either mismanagement or inefficiency, or to the companies' commitment to the so-called public service obligation (PSO).

PSO is a requirement set by the government for state firms to serve the interest of the public ahead of their corporate aim to make profit.

As well as PLN, major firms who are still in the red include PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines, railway company PT KAI and sea transportation company PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia.

The government's plans to sell stakes in some state companies this year under a privatization.