30 percent of SRP-listed items affected
The Department of Trade and Industry is eyeing to impose a maximum of 6 to 8 percent increase in prices for some 30 percent of the total basic goods listed in the Suggested Retail Price (SRP) bulletin.
DTI undersecretary for consumer protection Ruth Castelo said they are still reviewing petitions for price hikes from manufacturers but will keep adjustments to less than a third of SRP-listed commodities
“We have kept increases to 30 percent of the products from among the total number of SKUs (stock keeping units) in the bulletin at any given publication so consumers can still choose the ones that do not increase prices,” she said Tuesday.
“Increases are limited only to a range of 3 to 8 percent so if the Secretary wants the increases tempered to as much as 6 percent only, it is still well within the range,” she added.
Prices of monitored commodities under the SRP Bulletin last moved on May 11, 2022.
Under the latest SRP list, the DTI has approved a minimum increase for 82 basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPCs) while 136 SKUs or 62 percent were unchanged from the January 27, 2022 bulletin prices.
Products with minimal price hikes include bread, canned fish, potable water in bottles and containers, processed milk, locally manufactured instant noodles, coffee, salt, laundry soap, detergent, candles, flour, processed and canned pork, processed and canned beef, vinegar, fish sauce (patis), soy sauce, toilet soap, and batteries.
“Despite the adjustments in several basic and prime goods, the DTI assures the public that all increases in the SRPs were kept to a minimum level to provide consumers with reasonably-priced goods amid the pandemic,” Castelo said.
The DTI adjusts the SRP list from time to time to reflect the true cost of commodities and the movement of supply and demand on a global scale.
Meanwhile, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ‘s economic team unveiled Tuesday an eight-point agenda aimed at achieving his target of bringing down the poverty rate to a single-digit and elevating the country’s status as an upper-middle income economy.
Foremost in the eight-point agenda is to protect purchasing power and mitigate socioeconomic scarring by ensuring food security, reducing transport and logistics costs, and reducing energy costs to families.
Other interventions are as follows: reduce vulnerability and mitigate scarring from the COVID-19 pandemic by tackling health, strengthening social protections, and addressing learning losses; ensure sound macroeconomic fundamentals by enhancing bureaucratic efficiency and sound fiscal management and ensuring a resilient and innovative financial sector; create more jobs by promoting trade and investments, improving infrastructure, and achieving energy security; create quality jobs by increasing employability, encouraging research and development and innovation, enhancing digital economy; create green jobs by pursuing green economy and establishing livable and sustainable communities; uphold public order and safety, peace, and security; and ensure a level playing field by strengthening market competition and reducing barriers to entry and limits to entrepreneurship.