PHILIPPINE CAPITAL FUND PLANNED, ONGPIN SAYS
A 250 mln dlr Philippine capital fund
will be launched shortly to encourage private sector
investment, Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin said in a report to
President Corazon Aquino on his first year in office.
    The First Philippine Capital Fund will be launched jointly
by New York investment house <Shearson Lehman Brothers> and the
International Finance Corp, an affiliate of the World Bank,
Ongpin said. He gave no date for the launch.
    Ongpin said the implementation of the fund had been delayed
by his government's negotiations to reschedule about 9.4
billion dlrs of its 27.8 billion dlr foreign debt.
    Craig Nalen, president of a U.S.-government backed Overseas
Private Investment Corp mission which visited Manila in
February, told reporters at the time the capital fund would
amount to at least 100 mln dlrs.
    Ongpin proposed the 250 mln dlr fund during a trip to the
United States last September.
    His plan called on private investors to raise funds to buy
discounted obligations of Philippine borrowers from creditors
and convert them to equity in local projects.
 REUTER
