The Maharlika Investment Fund, the country’s first sovereign wealth, will start running by the fourth quarter of this year, its top official said Tuesday.

In an interview with PTV’s Pre-SONA Special with RJ Nieto, Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC) President and Chief Executive Officer Rafael Consing said: “We started in January 3 this year. I expect that by the fourth quarter, we should be up and running already.”

“Before the year ends, we are already expecting that there will be investments,” he added.

Consing also said that the MIC will be setting up “thematic sub-funds” in the future.

“The MIF will set up thematic sub-funds where it will allot its limits. In that sub-fund, that’s where the other investors will come in,” Consing said.

“For example…we will make an energy fund. In that energy fund, the targets will be the ones to invest. Once we do that, we can issue asset participation certificates,” he added.

Consing said that the Maharlika Investment Fund currently has P75 billion which are capital contributions from banks and this fund is being handled by the Bureau of Treasury’s interim manager.

He said officials of the sovereign wealth fund have decided that the capital allocated to them will first be used for investments in the Philippines and eventually, when it gets excess funds, it will be used in investing in other countries.

“We have decided that while the MIF is still young, all the investments will be here in the Philippines. When this company earns and we have excesses, that’s when we can release funds outside the Philippines so we can invest abroad. But while we haven’t gotten excesses or what we call surplus assets, we will invest in the Philippines in the meantime,” he said.

He added that they plan to invest in electrical cooperatives, health, and digital infrastructure. Jaspearl Tan/DMS