‘World Bank, ADB as investment partners to boost Maharlika attractiveness’

MANILA, Philippines — Taking in the investment arms of multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as strategic partners will likely boost the attractiveness of the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe Medalla.

Medalla said in an interview with “The Chiefs” on One News TV that senators were amenable to taking in the International Finance Corp. (IFC) of the World Bank and the investment arm of ADB as strategic partners instead of doing an initial public offering (IPO).

“In particular, let’s say if the fund gets to attract strategic partners like the IFC of the World Bank and the investment arm of the ADB, then the fund may actually be superior,” Medalla said.

Furthermore, he pointed out that inviting multilateral lenders as partners and stakeholders of the fund would address the governance concerns of the proposed MIF.

“If you bring in partners like the IFC, it will be built in. So it really matters who your partners are,” Medalla added.

According to the BSP chief, the proposed MIF would be better than the National Development Co., which is the investment arm of the Philippine government.

Medalla said key concerns of the central bank such as tapping into the country’s foreign exchange buffer or gross international reserves (GIR) as possible source of funds for the MIF have been addressed.

He said the term “wealth” in the original name of the fund has been dropped.

“That was the basic objection to the term W (wealth) because the government is a net borrower, the country is a net borrower. So in other words, to invest, we must borrow,” Medalla said.

He added that the proposed fund should be made to make strategic investments such as buying back the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) as well as greenhouse gases to attract foreign investors.

“For instance, I think the privatization of transmission might have been a bad move. It’s too strategic and then of course selling it to the Chinese, from a security standpoint. Maybe it’s a good use for this fund to buy it back,” Medalla said.

Another concern of the BSP that has been addressed is the use of the funds of pension fund managers Social Security System (SSS) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

“I think those issues are gone. So really the issues now are how we can improve the ability of this fund to increase investments in strategic areas and possibly, as in the case of Indonesia, attract foreign money,” Medalla added.

Based on legislative measures, the MIF will secure seed fund from state-run government financial institutions including Land Bank of the Philippines with P50 billion and Development Bank of the Philippines with P25 billion.

The BSP is expected to chip in P17 billion in the form of dividends, while the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., royalties and special assessments on natural resources and privatization are also seen to contribute an undetermined amount.

Medalla also said the Marcos administration is seriously looking for a highly competent individual to lead the management of the proposed fund.

Privatization

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said privatization would be a “more logical” way of raising capital for the MIF, as it would be “less controversial” than drawing funds from key financial instituions.

“Privatization seems to be less controversial and more logical because the assets being sold now can be enjoyed by future generations by investing in infrastructure and other things. We must put that on the table for the body to study,” Gatchalian said at hearing of the Senate committee on banks and financial institutions on the MIF Bill on Monday.

The senator made the statement after Bankers Association of the Philippines president Antonio Moncupa Jr. explained that generating MIF capital from sources that contribute to government coffers could become problematic.

Gatchalian noted that the top three assets that the government was looking to privatize could yield up to P130 billion in capital for the MIF.

These assets are the government’s mining rights estimated at P100 billion, a land parcel at the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) in Taguig worth around P22 billion and the government’s Mile Long property in Makati estimated at P8 billion.– Paolo Romero