MANILA -- A group of economists have asked the government to cut tariffs on imported rice, saying this will bring down the costs of Filipinos' staple food.
In a paper, the Foundation for Economic Freedom said cutting rice tariffs will bring down the landed cost of rice to P39/kg, and its retail price to P45/kg.
"We are importing rice now, so the current price reference prices are now in $600 range," said FEF fellow Dr. Roehlano Briones. "We are further bloating the cost of this already $600 rice with an additional 35 percent [tariff]," he noted.
"This is really making our rice artificially expensive," he said.
Briones said he backs the Department of Finance (DOF)'s proposal to reduce rice import tariff rates temporarily to zero percent or a maximum of 10 percent to arrest the surge in prices.
The economist said reducing tariffs may not necessarily hurt the Philippine economy.
"For those parties who are afraid of an import surge, there is no need to fear because actually again as I said, rice is unusually expensive. Unusually and abnormally expensive, in the last month up to the present."
"So that actually will boost the competitiveness of the domestic rice industry because the cost structure of domestic rice is still largely stable up to now," he explained.
He also noted that imposing price caps on rice has unintended consequences that are already hurting Filipino consumers, like how some retailers are holding on to their rice stocks and focusing on selling premium rice varieties.
Briones said the government has other means to stop the soaring of rice prices.
"The Philippine Competition Commission, and plus other agencies have the tools at their disposal to run after abuse of dominant economic positions and all of these other anti-competitive practices," he said.
