THE Department of Finance said the lifting of the quantitative restrictions on rice imports in favor of tariffs will result in the reduction in the retail price of the food staple by as much as P7 a kilo and help free some 730,000 Filipinos from poverty.
In an economic bulletin on the rice sector reform, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said a 35-percent import tariff on rice in lieu of restricting rice import volumes would encourage private traders to bring in the staple into the country, which would, in turn, allow the influx of cheaper rice in the domestic market.
The DoF said a reduction in rice prices would be beneficial to the majority of poor households that spend at least 20 percent of their budget for rice, citing recent studies done by the National Economic and Development Authority.