Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla was optimistic that the country's state-owned enterprises were financially capable of purchasing Mexican cement giant Cemex SA's stake in state-owned cement company PT Semen Gresik, local press reported Saturday.

"Our state companies are rich enough. If the government exercises its right to buy the stake, the state companies will provide the funds. These companies are not third parties but are owned by the state," said Kalla.

Cemex, which holds 25.5 percent stake in Semen Gresik, has recently reached an agreement with Rajawali, a local diversified business group, to sell its 24.9 percent stake in Semen Gresik for 337 million U.S. dollars.

But to become effective, the deal must be approved by the government which is the majority shareholder.

The government will announce its decision on whether to approve the deal on Monday.

A source at the State Ministry for State Enterprises has recently said that the government would reject the Cemex-Rajawali deal. However, Kalla and the state minister for state enterprises refused to confirm the report.

Source: Xinhua