July 18th, 2023
House Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay, 2nd district) says that the Maharlika Investment Fund will be the country’s “bridge between trillions in investible funds and thousands of investable development projects,” as the President is expected to sign the measure today.
Salceda was the Chairperson of the technical working group that drafted the House version of the reform, as well as one of its principal defenders in both the House floor and the bicameral panel.
“We have close to P19 trillion in investible funds in the Philippine banking system. That needs to go somewhere productive in order to contribute to the economy. The Maharlika Investment Fund is a vehicle to do that – for both the Landbank and the DBP, as well as for other banks,” Salceda said.
“We also have some of the largest conglomerates in Southeast Asia, and they are cash cows. Our total corporate sector generated P9.03 trillion in 2023. They have a gross saving of P5.7 trillion. So, basically, they don’t have anywhere to put 63% of all the money our corporations make,” Salceda added, citing official figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Income and Outlay Accounts.
“And, unless we create a vehicle for investable projects, chances are, that’s going to be released in dividends outside the country or used to pay foreign corporate debt, rather than develop our domestic sectors.”
“In fact, based on my analysis of the top 1000 corporations in the country alone, from year 2000, some P13 trillion in funds have been issued in dividends outside the country or used to pay foreign debt instruments.”
“I see Maharlika as a way to keep that money in. One of the difficulties with undertaking big projects here in the Philippines is navigating all the attached issues – bureaucracy, social acceptance, land use and tenure, among others. They increase the risk of investment and can deter these investors.”
“With MIF, Investors can outsource those issues to a government-owned company, instead of doing all that on their own. That makes the job easier and the investment less risky.”
Salceda adds that the MIF could be a crucial link between this pool of funding and development projects that can be funded.
“Meanwhile, we have an infrastructure financing gap of around P2 trillion annually until 2030, even with Build, Better More at around 5.6 percent of GDP or 1.3 trillion this year.”
“So, MIF, if we can get it right, can bridge the gap between investible funds – which we have trillions of – and the investable projects, which also demand trillions in financing. It’s grand-scale matchmaking for development.”