Marcos signs into law Maharlika Investment Fund Act
The country's first-ever sovereign wealth fund, which will ''ease pressure on financing public investment projects'', was signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday.
Marcos signed the Maharlika Investment Fund Act (MIF) in the presence of some members of the Congress in Malacanang palace including Senate President Miguel Zubiri and House Speaker Rep. Martin Romualdez.
"We mark today a momentous occasion in the history of our nation as I sign into law the Maharlika Investment Fund Act (MIF). The MIF is a bold step towards our country’s meaningful economic transformation," he said.
"Just as we are recovering from the adverse effects of the pandemic, we are now ready to enter a new age of sustainable progress, robust stability, and broad-based empowerment," he added.
To make sure that the sovereign wealth fund will be managed properly, Marcos assures that the fund will not be affected by political decisions.
"In the original iteration the President was the chairman of the ? I said, you remove us.” Then, there was the Secretary of Finance, because inevitably, if you put me or the Secretary of Finance in the decision- making loop, those decisions will be colored by political considerations, and that must not be the case," he said.
"Structurally, we removed the political decisions from the fund, and those political decisions are left with the bureaucracy, the political bureaucracy, and the fund is left to be a fund and operating on a sound and proactive financial basis," he added.
NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the initial capital of the MIF is P125 billion in government securities while the authorized capital is P500 billion.
However, Marcos expressed confidence that the government will find competent people to handle the fund.
"We have to look at any potential investment. We have to look at any potential operation of the fund in a cold-calculating manner. That is the only way that it will succeed," he said.
"Once again, I’m confident that we will find all of the people who are so competent that we can rest easy that they will handle the fund properly, so long as structurally. And I think we’ve done that job," he added.
In his statement following the signing of the law, Zubiri said Marcos is now excited to promote the sovereign wealth fund to the world.
"The president and the economic team is now excited to highlight the Maharika investment fund to the world for the other investors to come in and support the fund," he said
"The president is also excited to start creating a list of priority projects for the Maharlika investment funds, hopefully on SONA he will mention concrete projects for the use of the fund," he added.
Marcos said through the fund, the government "will leverage on a small fraction of the considerable but underutilized investable funds of the government and stimulate the economy without the disadvantage of having additional fiscal and debt burden."
He noted that "the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund will widen the government’s fiscal space and ease pressure in financing public infrastructure projects."
"All those critical sectors that have been left behind. All those critical sectors that have to adjust to the new economy, the new global economy. Those are the pressure points that we will apply the fund on. It is a crucial undertaking. It will support our overall goal of 6.5% to 8%
gross domestic product growth in the medium-term," he said.
"And through the fund, we will accelerate the implementation of the 194 National Economic and Development Authority Board-approved, NEDA- approved flagship infrastructure projects," he added. Robina Asido/DMS
