DAVOS, Switzerland — President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said setting up a Philippine sovereign wealth fund is a "good idea" to leverage government assets and pursue big-ticket infrastructure projects, particularly in energy and agriculture.
The President said this in a breakfast meeting with top international chief executive officers (CEOs) on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday here.
In his remarks, Marcos said the reason for setting up the Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) was that there was not enough money in government "to do all the things that we needed to do."
"We have reserves. And we must make that money sitting in banks, commercial and government," he said.
"We need to find a way to make that money work for us, and that's why we thought the sovereign wealth fund would be a good idea to leverage what assets the government has, what monies the government has," he added.
According to the President, the proposed sovereign wealth fund will fund critical infrastructure projects, especially since the development the government is envisioning involves big-ticket items.
"We're talking about energy; we're talking about infrastructure, we're talking about agricultural development, we're talking about digitalization. So all of these will need a great deal of support," Marcos said.
The Chief Executive said the fund would "play its part" in encouraging public-private partnerships (PPPs), pointing to the crucial role of the private sector in national growth and development.
"The idea is that the sovereign wealth fund will play its part in encouraging also our PPPs. The rules have been changed by the NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority)... and that has made it much much easier now for investors to come in and to engage in PPPs," Marcos said.
With professionals managing the fund, the President said there would be efficiency and assurance in driving strategically important investments in the country.
"The management of the wealth fund must be seen to be rational, sober, professional... we will certainly make sure that anyone who will look at the fund will see that it is run professionally and properly," he said.
"In that way, the wealth fund has a good future to be able, as I said, to succeed in doing what we want to do, which is leveraging what we have for these big-ticket investments," said the President," he added.
House Bill (HB) No. 6608, or the Maharlika Investment Fund Act (MIF), is an independent fund that adheres to the principles of good governance, transparency, and accountability and shall be sourced from the investible funds of select government financial institutions (GFIs), from contributions of the national government, declared dividends of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and other sources of funds.
Under the proposed measure, the fund shall be used to invest on a strategic and commercial basis in a manner designed to promote fiscal stability for economic development and strengthen the top-performing GFIs through additional investment platforms that will help attain the national government's priority plans.
The bill was approved on the third and final reading by the House of Representatives on December 15, 2022, and was transmitted to the Senate on December 19, 2022.