Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte on Monday lauded President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his economic managers for providing instant financial relief to ordinary consumers reeling from high inflation.
“We commend the President and his economic team for providing instant financial relief at the onset of 2023 to Filipino consumers continuously reeling from the mostly imported elevated inflation with the twin directives designed to keep at bay the impending price spirals in basic foodstuff like rice, corn and pork and the rate adjustment in the monthly premiums of PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corp.) members,” Villafuerte said.
“Such pro-poor, pro-consumer presidential directives illustrate anew that Mr. Marcos’ heart is in the right place,” he said. “More importantly, most of our people are apparently aware of, and truly appreciate, his good intentions, as reflected in the increasing number of public opinion polls pointing to the President’s high trust and approval ratings.
Villafuerte, president of the National Unity Party made the statement after President Marcos issued Executive Order (EO) 10 last Dec. 29 extending for a year the temporary modification or reduced import tariff rates on pork meat (whether fresh, chilled, or frozen), rice, corn, and coal until Dec. 31, 2023, to alleviate the impact of inflationary pressures resulting from the continued Ukraine-Russia crisis, expand supply sources, and reduce the cost of key commodities.
As endorsed by the Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM) of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the issuance of the EO was approved by the NEDA Board during its recent meeting presided over by President Marcos, who is Board chairman.
Villafuerte said that as pointed out by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan after the NEDA Board meeting, the lower tariff rates would enable the government to augment our domestic food supplies, diversify our sources of food staples, and temper inflationary pressures arising from supply constraints and rising international prices of production inputs due to external conflict.
The congressman and former CamSur governor said that inflation has generally remained on the high side since last year—even hitting 14-year highs in the last quarter—owing in large part to non-domestic factors such as spiralling petroleum prices in the world market, logistics jams or commodity supply disruptions largely caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the lingering Covid-19 pandemic.
EO 10 kept the reduced import duties at 15 percenr (in-quota) and 25 percent (out-quota) for fresh, chilled or frozen swine meat; 5 percent (in-quota) and 15 percent (out-quota) for corn; 35 percent (both in-quota and out-quota) for rice; and zero for coal.
Under the EO, the original or higher import duties for pork meat, rice, and corn shall return after Dec. 31, 2023, while the zero rate on coal shall remain beyond end-December.
Thanks to mostly imported elevated inflation, Villafuerte said the pace of commodity price increases quickened to 8.1 percent last December—the fastest in 14 years since the 9.1% print in November 2008, and the ninth consecutive month that inflation breached the two percent to four percent target range set by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) traced the accelerated inflation to the 10.2 percent spike in the year-on-year (YOY) prices of food items and non-alcoholic beverages.
Independent analysts see inflation remaining high at least for the first few months of 2023, with the projected spike in water and electricity rates likely to raise supply-side inflation.
Villafuerte is optimistic, though, that despite the economic challenges at the onset of 2023, the President and his economic managers could meet the country’s growth target of six percent to seven percent for the full-year of 2023 amid positive tailwinds in the months ahead, such as increasing remittances from overseas Filipinos, receding global oil prices, easing of tight monetary policies, and the projected reopening of the Chinese economy.