MANILA – The Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) is expected to start operations early next year, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Tuesday.
During the post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City, Diokno said the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Maharlika Investment Fund Act is expected to be completed next month.
“The law says we have 90 days to prepare the IRR. But immediately after the approval by the Senate of the bill, we started the preparation of the IRR so we expect the implementing rules and regulations to be available by mid-August or, at the latest last day of August. And then we expect this to be organized, appoint people in the right places by around September and I so think the Maharlika will be off and running by early next year,” he said.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act 11954 last week, otherwise known as the MIF Act of 2023, establishing the Philippines’ first sovereign wealth fund.
Diokno reiterated that the MIF will help widen the fiscal space and ease the burden on local funds.
“As an additional source of funding, the MIF is expected to widen the fiscal space, reduce reliance on official development assistance in funding big-ticket items, and some target investment areas include green and blue projects, rural development, digitalization, sustainable development and healthcare,” he said.
The Fund is designed to catalyze economic development and accelerate the country’s growth by optimizing the use of government financial assets and promoting their intergenerational management. (PNA)
