A RANKING official of one of Japan’s leading financial institutions has expressed strong interest in the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund and its potential to help the Philippine power sector, according to Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez.
The House leader said he met the Japanese senior official during the dinner held for President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and the Philippine delegation, hosted by Mitsui and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.
“It was during our conversation that he expressed strong interest (in the Maharlika Investment Fund) and in the possibility of investment in the proposed sovereign wealth fund, particularly for the power sector,” Romualdez said.
Among others, the MIF is intended to help achieve the “Agenda for Prosperity” and the objectives of sustainable and inclusive growth and attract additional investments for big-ticket infrastructure projects and other development programs of the government.
According to Romualdez, the interest in the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund shown by the Japanese senior financial official, whom he did not identify, is significant because he played a key role in setting up Indonesia’s own sovereign wealth fund known as INA (Indonesia Investment Authority).
Reports said that since its launch in February 2021 with initial funding of $5 billion from the Indonesian government, INA had raised more than $20 billion of co-investments from other foreign parties by the end of 2022.
The Speaker said that according to the Japanese official, the growth prospect of the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund is “potentially higher” compared to INA.
In December last year, the House approved the bill creating the Maharlika Investment Fund, with around 90 percent of the chamber’s members supporting the passage of the measure. Romualdez is the principal author of the measure.
The Senate is currently deliberating on its own version of the Maharlika Investment Fund bill.
Romualdez projected that the MIF could be approved “maybe after Easter.”
Although there are still questions on the proposed measure raised by some senators, Romualdez said this could help the Senate further fine-tune the bill approved by the House.
He stressed that once enacted into law, the Maharlika Investment Fund will be a magnet for foreign investments into the country.