Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on Thursday committed to further reducing rice prices following the release of inflation data showing the benefits of lower rice costs for impoverished Filipinos.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) launched on Thursday the Rice-for-All program across Metro Manila, offering rice at P40 per kilogram under the KADIWA ng Pangulo initiative.
“If international rice prices keep falling, the peso remains stable, and tariffs stay low, well-milled rice prices could drop further,” Laurel said.
He said the P5 billion in additional funding from the President would bolster interventions like Rice-for-All and the P29-per-kilo rice program.
The program aims to make rice affordable and address persistently high retail prices despite declining global costs and reduced tariffs.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier slashed rice import duties from 35 percent to 15 percent to alleviate consumer burdens and curb inflation, paving the way for lower interest rates to stimulate investments and job creation.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that rice inflation eased to 5.1 percent in November from 9.6 percent in October, contributing to a slowdown in overall inflation for low-income households.
National statistician Claire Dennis Mapa noted that declining rice prices boosted purchasing power for families spending a significant portion of their income on food.
These gains were offset by rising vegetable and pork prices due to typhoons and African Swine Fever (ASF).
Mapa said lower rice prices remained crucial for reducing inflation’s impact on vulnerable sectors.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said the 2.5 percent inflation in November stays firmly within the target range, reflecting the government’s effective interventions to ease supply pressures for key food items, especially rice.
“We are very much on track in keeping our inflation within our target band for the entire year despite some challenges, such as strong successive typhoons that affected the agriculture sector,” he said.
Inflation averaged 3.2 percent in the first 11 months of 2024, within the government’s target band of 2 percent to 4 percent for the year.
Rice inflation continued its downtrend from 9.6 percent in October 2024 to 5.1 percent in November this year as a result of the implementation of Executive Order (EO) No. 62 in July 2024, which lowered import tariffs on rice.
The average retail price of imported rice for the second half of November 2024 went down by P3.65 per kilogram (kg) from the second half of June 2024, prior to the implementation of the EO.