Rice tariff reduction cost less than P10B
Senior Finance department officials propose lowering rice tariffs to curb inflation and reduce rice prices. Estimated revenue loss: less than P10 billion. Finance Secretary Ralph Recto suggests a further reduction from the current 35% to 15-20%. They prioritize easing inflation despite potential revenue loss. Rising rice prices contributed to recent inflation, nearing the 2.0-4.0% target. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary expects inflation to remain within target range.
REVENUE losses from a proposed lowering of rice tariffs will be less than P10 billion and will be worth it if inflation goes down and rice prices fall, a senior Finance department official said.
“Currently, the estimate is less than P10 billion in revenues if this happens,” Finance Undersecretary Domini Velasquez said, adding that the “the loss … doesn’t really matter if we can actually reduce prices by P4 to P5.”
“[O]n the DoF’s (Department of Finance) part, we’re willing to forego that tariff loss just to ensure inflation also goes down,” she added.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto on Monday said that rice tariffs — currently temporarily lowered to 35 percent by virtue of a presidential order — could be cut further to bring down prices of the staple.
Velasquez said the proposal involves a cut to 15-20 percent.
“[W]e’re now looking at how this can help, especially since there’s a lean season until around September,” she added.
Rising rice prices were a factor in a recent rise in inflation, which is again threatening to breach the 2.0- to 4.0-percent target.
The rate picked up to 3.8 percent this month and could top 4.0 in May, although Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said on Monday that the rate was likely to remain within the target range as there had been “no surprises.”
Source Link : https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/money/rice-tariff-reduction-cost-less-than-p10b/ar-BB1ngU86
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