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The Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) won't have any immediate impact on the 2024 national budget, but that may not be the case in subsequent years particularly in the funding of major infrastructure projects. Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman had this to say in a press briefing with House of Representatives reporters Wednesday, Aug. 2, the day that the agency submitted the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) worth P5.768 trillion to the legislative chamber. "As of now po you know it has been signed two weeks ago. Inaayos po ngayong ang IRR (The implementing rules and regulations is being prepared now)," Pangandaman said. "According to our timeline, we’ll have the IRR by Aug. 10, by first week of August. Because we already prepared it prior to the passage so we’ll have to organize pa po after the IRR. On the immediate impact po in our budget, wala pa po siya (there is none)," she said. "However, mayroon po tayong tinatawag na 194 infrastructure priority projects ng NEDA (There are what we call the 194 infrastructure priority projects of the National and Economic Development Authority)," she noted. Pangandaman said that since these projects are spread out until 2028, it's possible for the MIF to bankroll them in the future. "With Maharlika po, possible po, because these are high-impact projects and then ito po yung mga may returns po in terms of investment (With Maharlika, it's possible because these are high-impact projects that have returns in terms of investment)," she said. The MIF seeks to create a new revenue stream for the Philippine government aside from the usual taxes. The profits of the fund will be used to bankroll big-ticket projects. "So eventually po wala pa po dito, but in our 2025, 2026, 2027 national budget, makikita niyo po na yung mga other major infrastructure projects, hindi na po popondohan ng national government (There's still no impact here, but in our 2025, 2026, 2027 national budgets, eventually you will see that the national government would no longer need to fund other major infrastructure projects)," Pangandaman said. The MIF, which basically serves as the country’s first-ever sovereign wealth fund, was initially filed in the House of Representatives in late November 2022. Pangandaman said the infrastructure projects identified by NEDA for the duration of the Marcos administration have a total budget of P8.2 trillion.