Marcos-backed Philippines sovereign wealth fund faces pushback from business groups

[MANILA] Business leaders and economic analysts in the Philippines have criticised the plans by the government to establish a sovereign wealth fund that’s being backed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The proposal to create the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), as it is called, faced plenty of resistance soon after it was filed in Congress. It took just 18 days for congressional approval to be given, compared to months for previous bills, after Marcos certified it as urgent as he seeks to boost foreign investment.

The country’s central bank governor Felipe Medalla was among those who have openly questioned the need for the fund, as he wondered how it would be governed and compared it to Malaysia’s disgraced state investment fund 1MDB.