Marcos says Saudi, Gulf nations interested in Philippine fund

PHILIPPINE President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations had expressed interest in the South-east Asian nation’s sovereign wealth fund.

“The reaction that we got from our partners in Saudi Arabia and in other countries has been very, very encouraging,” Marcos said on Saturday (Oct 21). The president was in Saudi Arabia for a meeting between South-east Asian leaders and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Marcos said he is confident about pitching the fund to governments and to the private sector when it is operational. Implementation of the law to create the Maharlika Investment Fund was suspended earlier this month, pending further review, but Marcos said this week that plans to establish it will proceed.

The government is only aiming to make improvements “specifically to the organisational structure” of the fund and plans to have it in operation before the end of the year, he said.

The president’s Executive Secretary, Lucas Bersamin, said this week that Marcos wanted to “study carefully” the implementation of the law to ensure there will be safeguards for transparency and accountability. BLOOMBERG