Pangandaman: IMF backed creation of SWF B J E Y. A @jearcalas
M
WORLD | A10 CHINA CUTS COVID CASE NUMBER REPORTING AS INFECTIONS SURGE
ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS
2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion
ULTILATERAL lending institutions and a United States-based think tank have thrown their support behind the establishment of the country’s own sovereign wealth fund (SWF), the budget chief said on Wednesday. Department of Budget and Management Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said during the previous administration, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) backed the idea of creating a Philippine SWF. Pangandaman said that it was during the stint of current Finance
Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor when the idea of creating an SWF was floated during the Duterte administration. She added that they formed a technical working group (TWG) during the previous administration to determine the feasibility of establishing an SWF. “During that time, we really had a surplus in our reserves. The IMF has said we should only have at least three months of our reserves, but during governor Diokno’s time, it was 10 months, sobra-sobra po,” Pangandaman said. “So we did research, TWG, we even met with ADB, the IMF. Both development partners said it’s okay, pero hindi po sa [BSP] kasi wala
po sa mandate ng central bank,” she added. Pangandaman said she supports the creation of the country’s wealth fund since it would generate additional budget for the government amid “limited” fiscal space. “Any measure, program, law that will help our budget, given our limited space right now, is welcome news for me, and at least for the DBM po. We will support the creation of the wealth fund,” she said. The budget chief said that the national government has tapped the Milken Institute of Singapore to determine the feasibility of creating a Philippine SWF, particularly the specific type of such fund suitable for the country. Based on the findings of the
forthcoming report of the think tank, Pangandaman said the right time to create the country’s SWF is “now.” “Just this morning, part of our TWG is a meeting with the Milken Institute of Singapore. They will release a report soon. And I think the report will say that the time is now,” she said. “We also tapped them to help us when we were working on the type of sovereign wealth fund, because there are several types—some are using it for their pension system, others are using it for their natural resources. Ours is for development, to develop and to fund at least our infrastructure projects and pro-
BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
S “IMF,” A
EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS
ADB RAISES PHL GROWTH www.businessmirror.com.ph
■
Thursday, December 15, 2022 Vol. 18 No. 64
P. | | 7 DAYS A WEEK
FORECAST FOR ’22 TO 7.4%
SENATORS of the 19th Congress led by Senate President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri pose with new presidential appointees as confirmed by the Commission on Appointments at a plenary session on Wednesday, December 14, 2022: Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista; Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar; National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan; Comelec Commissioners Nelson Celis and Ernesto Ferdinand P. Maceda Jr.; together with Department of Foreign Affairs foreign service officers Irene Susan Barreiro Natividad, Ambassador to Germany; Bernard Faustino La Madrid Dy, Ambassador to the Swiss Confederation; and Catherine Flores Alpay, Foreign Services Class II. ROY DOMINGO
T
B C U. O
@caiordinario
HE Philippine economy’s performance, especially in the third quarter, “shattered” the expectations of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) prompting the Manila-based multilateral development bank to raise its forecast for the country’s GDP growth this year. The ADB said growth this year is now projected to reach 7.4 percent from the bank’s September estimate of 6.5 percent. ADB Philippine Country Director Kelly Bird said this is the highest growth forecast in the region. However, due to high inflation and the impact on the economy
of the recession in advanced economies like the United States and the European Union, growth is expected to be more muted next year at 6 percent from the initial estimate of 6.3 percent. “The Philippines’s economic C A
MARCOS TO SIGN 2023
BUDGET BILL ON FRIDAY
P
RESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is expected to sign the P5.268-trillion 2023 national budget on Friday, the budget chief said Wednesday. Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said the President will sign the General Appropriations Act (GAA) on December 16 and that the Executive is now “working” on his veto message. Pangandaman added that the DBM is now consolidating all the numbers brought about by the amendments and changes made during the ratification of the 2023
budget by Congress last week. She also said the President will veto about two to three items in the 2023 GAA. However, she did not disclose the amount involved or detail the items that will be vetoed by Marcos Jr. Pangandaman said the president’s veto message will be “very friendly” given the warm relationship between the Executive and Legislative branches of the government. “I think we will have two vetoes, two to three direct vetoes, and all the rest are just conditional and S “M,” A
PESO EXCHANGE RATES US 55.8150 ■ JAPAN 0.4117 ■ UK 68.9762 ■ HK 7.1800 ■ SINGAPORE 41.4458 ■ AUSTRALIA 38.2500 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 14.8476 ■ EU 59.3537 ■ KOREA 0.0433 ■ CHINA 8.0309
Source: BSP (December 14, 2022)