Philippine finance chief says forex reserves enough for wealth fund

MANILA, Dec 5 (Bloomberg): The Philippines has more than sufficient foreign exchange reserves that can be set aside for a proposed sovereign wealth fund, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said, allaying the central bank’s concerns over the plan.

There’s "too much ammunition,” Diokno, a former central bank governor, told reporters, referring to the foreign reserves. He was responding to questions on whether using the reserves to be part of the wealth fund would hurt the central bank’s ability to use it as a tool against foreign exchange volatility.