Recto favors tariff reduction on rice imports
Reducing the tariff on imported rice to 17.5 percent would be more favorable to the consumers and farmers, Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said.
On the sidelines of the Philippine Economic Briefing on Monday, May 27, Recto said that there should be a balance between the two parties when considering the affordability of the staple food.
"You have to strike a balance between the farmers and the consumers. It's better to have a fair share, 17.5 [percent]. Could be 20 percent, right?” he told reporters.
“But I leave that to the Secretary of Agriculture. First, to discuss with his constituencies, right? It needs to have a hearing. But there are about three million farmers and 115 million consumers, or 112 million, so a good balance should be,” he added.
Asked whether the lower tariff proposal on rice should be implemented until the end of this year, Recto said that he would want to see first its effectivity and from there should be decided if it can be extended.
"As much as possible, not only up to the end of the year. But, possible, the EO [executive order] will be only up to the end of the year. And then, let's take a look, and then, if we need to extend it, then we can extend it, right? But what's important is to reduce the prices of rice," he stated.
The Marcos administration last year implemented EO 50, maintaining the tariff rate for rice at 35 percent within and exceeding the minimum access volume (MAV) quota until the end of this year.
However, Recto said that the government would want to further reduce the tariff of the commodity for rice prices to go down by 20 percent in September.
“We expect rice prices to go down by 20 percent in September. This would entail an increase in production and reduction in tariffs,” the finance chief said during the panel in the same forum.
“I think we have a game plan in place as far as that is concerned. That is something we can have a grip on and we expect it to go down between July to September,” he added.