The current version of House Bill (HB) No. 6608, or the bill seeking to establish the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), still raises red flags, says Enrico P. Villanueva, a chief risk consultant and a senior lecturer of economics at the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
In this B-Side episode, he tells BusinessWorld reporter Keisha B. Ta-asan that the MIF will weaken the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and other government banks. “BSP is not supposed to dabble in private enterprises … BSP cannot invest in development financing,” Mr. Villanueva says, adding that the MIF resurrects the ghost of what happened to the Central Bank, which had to be dissolved after being bankrupted. “Haven’t we learned from the experience?”
Recorded remotely in December 2022. Produced by Joseph Emmanuel L. Garcia and Sam L. Marcelo.
