The authorities ought to impose a zero tariff on imported rice as a worth ceiling on the staple gained’t be efficient in the long run, Representative Stella Quimbo of Marikina City mentioned Monday.
Quimbo, an economist, was referring to the Executive Order 39 issued by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. which units the value cap at P41 per kilo for normal milled rice and P45 per kilo for effectively milled rice.
“We know that the price ceiling won’t be effective in the long run because it will cause shortages…In the long run, it won’t be effective in addressing high prices of rice. In the short run, before the EO was issued, there were a lot of hoarders and that was the problem. There is a real supply problem, so the value of the EO is sending a signal to hoarders that we are going to go after you,” Quimbo mentioned in an interview.
“So what are the tools that we need to use now to address the high prices? One is reducing tariffs [on imported rice]. We can make it zero tariff now, especially that we have already met our rice tariff target which is already at P14 billion. We should have a zero tariff for the rest of the year while there is a supply problem,” she added.
The Finance division, for its half, already instructed lowering tariffs on imported rice from 35% to 10%.
House methods and means panel chairperson Representative Joey Salceda of Albay backed the Finance division’s suggestion.
“It is a viable solution for present rice price issues. In general, I am supportive of ensuring that we have all the options necessary to meet our local demand and reduce the consumer price of rice,” Salceda, who can also be an economist, mentioned.
“It will also not compromise the implementation of the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program [under the Rice Tariffication Law] since the P10 billion in tariff revenues required to fund them has already been met by this year’s tariff collections,” he mentioned.
In addition, the awmaker instructed that the rice tariff discount needs to be accompanied by extra aggressive palay shopping for operations by the state run National Food Authority to make sure that the surge in imports doesn’t unduly depress farmgate costs.
The Rice Tariffication Law solely permits the NFA to supply palay domestically.
Quimbo shared Salceda’s sentiments on permitting NFA to import rice.
“Temporarily, we should allow NFA to import given that they have buffering stock responsibility,” she mentioned.
Salceda acknowledged that the long-term and sustainable resolution remains to be to provide extra rice domestically, in a manner that’s resilient to local weather dangers.
“We need to reduce our dependence on rice imports to protect us from rice trade volatility,” he mentioned.
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is the concurrent Agriculture chief.—LDF, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
