Marcos pushes for creation of Maharlika Wealth Fund

MANILA - President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. continues to push for the creation of the so-called Maharlika Wealth Fund, saying it is a good investment vehicle to foster an improved environment for economic development in the country.

The Maharlika Wealth Fund is a sovereign wealth fund which will be used by the government to invest in a wide range of outlets such as foreign currencies, fixed-income instruments, domestic and foreign corporate bonds, commercial real estate, and infrastructure projects, among others.

Marcos also said that it is best to let lawmakers closely examine the proposed bill on the Maharlika Wealth Fund in order to come up with the “perfect” version of the sovereign fund.

“We’re just doing the regular process of looking at the bill. Well, not us. It’s the legislature. So let them do their jobs. Tama ‘yan. Para gawin nilang perfect,” Marcos said. “Let’s not debate until we see the final form because we could be debating about provisions that no longer exist. So antayin natin kung ano’ng gagawin ng legislature.”

The President made this remark after lawmakers moved to exclude the Government Service Insurance System and the Social Security System as contributors to the proposed sovereign wealth fund.

“I wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise… It’s very clear that we need added investment. This is another way to get that,” Marcos said.

Marcos’ economic managers, led by Finance Sec. Benjamin Diokno, earlier said the Maharlika Wealth Fund is expected to increase investments and the funding of infrastructure projects and countryside development, particularly in agriculture.

The economic managers stressed that in the near and medium term, the Maharlika Wealth Fund is seen to enhance the country’s fiscal space and reduce fiscal pressures as the fund “pursue public infrastructure projects, as well as reduce uncertainties in cases when fund resources are channeled to high-yielding financial undertakings.”

A total of P250 billion startup investment for the Maharlika Wealth Fund will come from government financial institutions such as the Landbank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines. This will be supplemented by annual contributions from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Department of Finance and other sources. (Mindanao Examiner)