Philippines sets up 2 billion USD national investment fund

Illustrative image (Photo: philstar.com)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippine House of Representatives on December 15 approved a bill on the establishment of the "Maharlika Investment Fund" with capital of 2 billion USD, much lower than the original proposal.

President Ferdinand Marcos has called for the rapid passage of the bill to help the government access more money to fund major infrastructure projects.

In a letter sent to Speaker of the House of Representatives Martin Romualdez, President Marcos said the fund will strengthen investments of leading government financial institutions, thereby promoting socio-economic development. The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate.

The Maharlika Investment Fund will be funded by two state-owned banks which will contribute 75 billion pesos (1.3 billion USD). The rest will come from the Philippine Central Bank's profits this year, estimated at 35 billion pesos (more than 600 million USD). However, the total is much lower than the original proposal of 275 billion pesos, mainly from two state-managed pension funds. The House of Representatives did not approve the fund due to public opposition.

Businesses, opposition leaders and other opponents said the fund could deplete workers' pension funds and lead to corruption./.