Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (Facebook)




Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte has added his voice to the growing anticipation for the "timely" signing of proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF). “With its signing into law this week by the President, the MIF will clear the way to an alternative, potentially huge source of investment funds that would enable the national government to spend much bigger on public infrastructure and its other big-ticket programs to shore up our President’s “Agenda for Peace and Prosperity,’” Villafuerte said in a statement Monday, July 17. President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is set to sign the MIF into law Tuesday, July 18, in Malacañang. He is expected to announce it as one of his major accomplishments during his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24. Villafuerte, majority leader of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA), is a principal author of the MIF, which is essentially a sovereign wealth fund. "The 19th Congress, in writing this MIF measure, sought to fit up government with a new funding stream for investments other than the traditional sources of funds, namely, the General Appropriations Act (GAA) or national budget, official development assistance (ODA) from our overseas partners and the business sector via the public-private partnership (PPP) mode," he said. The former House deputy speaker says the establishment of the MIF is "timely", given what is happening around the world. "The Philippines has secured a higher investment-grade status even as the world economy is going through a rough patch that experts fear could slash global output to near recessionary levels,” Villafuerte said. He was referring to the recent warning by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the global economy could suffer a pronounced growth downturn this year to 2.5 percent to 2.8 percent from 2022’s 3.4 percent. This is due to stubborn inflation, slow recovery from the pandemic, the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, increasing trade tensions, and interest rate hikes by central banks, among others factors. “Amid the not-so-favorable economic conditions worldwide, international investors are likely looking at putting their money in big-ticket projects like those being envisioned in the MIF,” Villafuerte said, “and they might be keen on investing in this would-be fund (MIF), especially with the recent [Fitch] rating upgrade of the Philippines.” Villafuerte said the MIF will serve as a growth driver for the domestic economy by attracting private investments despite external headwinds that heighten global economic and financial uncertainties. With the MIF as a new source for investment funds, the government can spend much more on its priority projects without resorting to additional foreign borrowings, he pointed out.