MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to stop rice imports during the harvest season will have no effect on the inflation rate.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Benjamin Diokno said the President’s order is not expected to have any effect on the rate of price increases since there are still rice imports that have yet to be delivered into the country.
“That’s only temporary,” he said referring to the President’s instruction to halt rice importation and to purchase harvests from local farmers to address their plight vis-à-vis the impact of the Rice Tariffication Law.
Farmers have complained about the big drop in farm-gate price of rice, which has declined to about P15 per kilo from P20 per kilo since the implementation of the Tariffication Law last March.
After peaking at 6.7 percent in September and October 2018, inflation rate decelerated to 0.8 percent last October due to the implementation of monetary and fiscal measures.
Inflation rate in the first 10 months this year averaged at 2.6 percent, at the lower half of the government’s two to four percent target.
Last week, BSP’s policy-making Monetary Board slashed the central bank’s average inflation forecast for this year to 2.4 percent from 2.5 percent previously, but expects upticks starting November as base effect dissipates.(PNA)
