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Friday, March 29, 2024

BSP bucks rice imports because of ample supply

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BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo is not in favor of a government-to-government importation of rice at the moment, saying the supply of the staple remains sufficient and will be augmented by the dry season harvest until June.

“If you look at the latest number issued by the National Economic and Development Authority and the Philippine Statistics Authority, you’ll see that in terms of the number of days, the rice inventory covers 69 days versus the 71 days in the same period last year,” Guinigundo said in an interview.

“Which means that the summer harvest starts in April and it concludes in June of this year. So at the end of March, you have 69-days’ worth of inventory, which means that by the end of June you’re still okay. And that’s the reason why people are saying we shouldn’t import,” Guinigundo said.

He said the state had to spend for the amount of importation under the government-to-government arrangement. In the case of other imports, it is the private sector that will spend for the shipments.

Guinigundo said the private sector normally does it based on the dynamics of the province or the city, or the supply and demand in that area.

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“So, the likelihood of the private importer to make a mistake in terms of supply and demand is quite remote because it’s their money that’s at stake. So we allow the private sector to do importation…,” Guinigundo said. 

He said the National food Authority Council, where the Bangko Sentral governor sits as a member, did not activate the standby approval of 250,000 metric tons of government-to-government importation of rice due to sufficient supply of rice.

He said if really needed, the standby approval for 250,000 metric tons of government-to-government importation could easily be activated.

“…. So why go into a G-to-G at this point when you have ample supply and still here is coming summer harvest until June 2017. Remember, if you decide on a G-to-G, the government will pay for it. That will add to the loan of the NFA,” Guinigundo said. 

The NFA Council was assessing the numbers to make sure there would not be significant increases in rice prices.

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