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MANILA – Authorities are looking into the possibility of relaxing rules on the selling of imported pork around the country, noting the elevated inflation outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) due to supply constraints.
This, as the rate of price increases of pork in areas outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) continues to surpass the government’s 2 percent to 4 percent target due to supply issues caused by the African swine fever (ASF).
“And one reason for that is some restrictions that prevent some of these imported supplies from being sold elsewhere, especially in the wet markets. So, this is something that we think should be relaxed so that more people can benefit,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines’ virtual briefing on Thursday.
Chua said pork inflation in the NCR has decelerated to within the government’s target band after domestic pork supply was boosted by higher importation.
He, however, said prior to this, pork inflation accelerated by almost 60 percent in the middle of this year.
This was the reason for the issuance of Executive Orders last May that increased the minimum access volume for imported pork and ordered for the temporary lowering of tariff rates to increase domestic supply, he added.
After the supply deficit has been addressed pork inflation has gone down to over 30 percent, Chua said.
Chua said the Department of Agriculture has approved the proposal of hiking fish importation to address possible decline in supply during the close fishing season from November to February.
“Our priority is to make sure that all 111 million Filipinos have access to affordable food. At the same time, our priority is to help improve the productivity of the farmers, of the fishermen, of the livestock producers. So, this is a two-pronged approach that we are doing,” he said.
Inflation rate has been on the rise since the last quarter of 2020 and peaked so far this year at 4.9 percent last August.
The average inflation in the first nine months this year stood at 4.5 percent.
Monetary authorities expect inflation to remain elevated because of weather-related factors’ impact on food supply but this is expected to decelerate to within-target level by the end of the year.
Aside from food inflation, another factor that is pushing inflation higher is the continued increase of oil prices in the international market.
Currently, the price of oil in the global market is above USD80 per barrel.
“Our policy response should be calibrated, whether it is going to be a temporary or a permanent phenomenon,” Chua said.
He said the government has a PHP3-billion budget for service contracting and “we should spend it fully to help public utility vehicles.”
Chua said economic managers have increased this budget by PHP1 billion to implement the Pantawid Pasada program, a cash subsidy program for public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers and operators in 2012 and 2018.
He said authorities are also reviewing the seat capacity in PUVs right now, which is currently at 50 percent.
“Of course, they are not earning as much but as we have more people vaccinated, as we have lower cases of Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) there, I think, is an opportunity to review the seat capacity,” he said.
Chua said people must look at the entire picture, adding that while allowing a higher number of jeepney or bus seating capacity may increase the risk of Covid-19 spread “the same people are falling in line in the bus station waiting for bus and also crowding the bus station.”
“And as the data evolves, meaning over the coming weeks, we will be able to understand better whether this is temporary or permanent, then we will recalibrate our policy to support the sector,” he added. (PNA)
