NEDA: No decision yet on cutting tariffs for rice imports

The Philippine government is exploring options to protect consumers from rising rice prices, including reducing import tariffs and lifting the price cap on the staple food.

In a Malacañang Press Briefing on Thursday, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that the government has not yet discussed the proposal to cut import tariffs for rice at the level of the President or even at the level of the committee.

However, he said that the government is meeting soon to present options for addressing the issue to ensure that the country remains rice-secure even as world prices are rising.

He said that one option is to reduce import tariffs temporarily. However, he stressed that the government will ensure that farmers are protected and will not be worse off.

"Of course when the world prices are not rising we don't want to reduce the tariff; but when the world prices are rising sharply and you don't want that to come down to the level of our markets like for example the retail or the wholesale or even at the farm gate of course you have to find other options of protecting our people," Balisacan said.

"And reducing the tariff temporarily would be such an option, but in doing so, the exercise that we will do is to ensure that farmers are protected, they are not going to be worse off – that is the objective, nobody should be worse off," he added.

Balisacan also said that the government is closely monitoring the global rice market, including the volume of exports by major exporting countries.

"We are monitoring closely what's happening (…) to the volume of exports by major exporting countries because, as you know, India restricted exports of rice and India is now a major rice exporter," he said.

Balisacan also noted the external headwinds and that both the other exporting countries like Thailand and Vietnam would also want to protect their local population from this external pressure.

He added that other countries may also decrease their exports. Hence, those are the ones that are causing prices in the global market to rise.

The socioeconomic secretary added that El Niño would continue to intensify and will be there until the first quarter of next year.

Balisacan said that the government will meet soon to recommend other options to the President.