The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) will submit its review of the reduced rice import tariffs to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Earlier, the government announced reduced tariffs on rice to 15% from 35%.
The NEDA said it is mandated to review the tariff rate every four months and to submit its findings and recommendations.
The review comes as several lawmakers criticized that the administration’s decision to cut rice tariffs did not result in significantly lowering the market prices of rice, despite costing the government some P12 billion in foregone revenues, ABS-CBN News reported.
Economic managers earlier trumpeted that the tariff cuts would see rice prices falling by P5 to P6 as early as the first month of its implementation, which was August.
But the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier noted in its October inflation report that rice inflation climbed to 9.6 percent in October, compared to 5.7 percent in September.
The PSA noted that the rice tariff cuts, which the government implemented in July, had yet to result in significant rice price cuts. Instead of a P5 reduction, which was the lower end of the forecast, rice prices had gone down by less than P0.50 by October, which was already the third month of the tariff cuts.
The faster annual inflation of rice was a big factor in the faster headline inflation clip in October.
NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, quoted by reports, did not disclose the agency’s recommendation to the President but noted that the report presents the current picture of the rice market.
“We’re now finalizing the report, we’ll submit that report to the President, hopefully tomorrow. So, I can’t disclose what is in that report yet, because I want to give the President for the first opportunity to read what that is,” the official said.
Balisacan said the government remains focused on reducing food prices, but noted that the depreciation of the peso and recent calamities have affected the price of rice, which he says is hovering at P50 per kilo.
The government meanwhile is planning to roll out its Kadiwa Rice-for-All program where rice at P42 per kilo will be sold at major public markets.
In a statement, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the DA is now in talks with importers who committed to supply Kadiwa rice at P42 per kilo.
Tiu Laurel said the move is seen to help bring down the retail price of rice while maintaining healthy market competition.
The official said that selling P42 per kilo of rice in major public markets was arrived at after the DA saw a discrepancy between reduced tariffs on imported rice and the “unusually high” prices at the retail level.
