The 60-day rice import ban starting on September 1 is not likely to be extended when it lapses by the end of October, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said.
The two-month rice import suspension became necessary only because “it’s harvest season,” Recto said on the sidelines of an economic forum organized by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) on Monday.
Recto also downplayed the tax revenue impact of the suspension.
Recto said any deficit in the domestic rice supply can be filled by the expected rice harvests in the coming months and the rice imports that will resume after the harvest season by November.
“Because if our deficit is 4.6 million metric tons, so maybe there will be (a rice import) suspension for 60 days, … maybe at the end of the year after the harvest season, you probably will import the balance,” he said.
Last week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the suspension of all rice importation starting September 1 to help farmers profit from their harvests, and stabilize local palay prices.
Earlier, farmers’ groups urged Marcos to hike the 15 percent rice import tariff to at least 35 percent to prevent the flooding of imported rice in the market during the wet harvest season from August to October.
President Marcos, instead, ordered a 60-day rice import ban starting September 1 to support the farmers.
