National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)
MANILA – National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan on Tuesday lauded the signing of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) Act of 2023, saying this would help the country achieve its long-term development goals.
Balisacan said the MIF would complement the country’s existing investment platforms and support the financing of the government’s flagship projects, particularly in the infrastructure sector.
“The Economic Team has always emphasized the importance of enhancing the platforms that we have for engaging with the private sector and promoting investments in strategic areas. The MIF will help us achieve this objective,” he said.
Balisacan said to augment the initial capitalization of PHP125 billion in government securities, the MIF could bring in more economic benefits if it could attract co-investments and fully pay up its authorized capital stock of PHP500 billion.
He added that the MIF could invest in some of the 194 Infrastructure Flagship Projects of the “Build-Better-More” program.
“Maharlika can invest in various areas. There are strategic areas in the energy sector that we would like MIF to invest in. There are many areas that are in great need of capital. So, we will never run out of investment opportunities,” he said.
Balisacan said the MIF could be an alternative to debt financing when the country becomes an upper middle-income country and would no longer qualify for concessionary loans, such as the Official Development Assistance.
“The MIF can attract equity financing instead of debt financing, which would enable investors and the government to become partners in development. This is also a good opportunity for us to free up other government funds that we can allocate for more social development projects. The MIF will focus on financing profitable development projects through equity,” he said. (PNA)
