The World Bank said it is ready and willing to provide guidance to the economic managers of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. regarding the proposal to create the Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF).
The creation of the Philippines’ first sovereign wealth fund has drawn criticism from several sectors, which fear public funds invested in it will be misused. The seed money of P250 billion for the MWF will initially come from infusions from the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines.
“The World Bank has a lot of expertise in sovereign wealth funds, both of the kinds that have a big meta-resource base that they can use to invest but also sovereign investment funds that basically try to track all investments in the country,” World Bank Senior Economist Ralph van Doorn said Tuesday (December 6).
“The moment the government is asking for advice on best practices and design of sovereign wealth funds, we will be more than happy to give such advice,” he added, noting that the US-based lender has not seen the latest version of the law so far.
HB 6398 creating the MWF was authored by Marcos’ cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez.