President Marcos approves rice tariff cut to 15 percent until 2028

MANILA, Philippines — To bring down the price of rice to P29 per kilo, President Marcos has lowered the tariff for imported rice until 2028, according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by the President, approved the new Comprehensive Tariff Program for 2024-2028, which includes the reduction of rice tariff for both in- and out-quota rates from 35 to 15 percent.

At a Palace briefing yesterday, Balisacan said the newly approved tariff rates aim to ensure access and affordability to essential commodities while at the same time balancing the interest of consumers and local producers.

“The Department of Agriculture is aiming for a reduction (to) P29 per kilo, at least for the poor, because we will complement this tariff reduction with direct subsidies to the poor and the vulnerable, so they can access the food (rice),” Balisacan said.

“But overall, with the tariff reduced from 35 to 15 percent, everybody will benefit from that. This is crucial because world prices are still increasing,” he added.

Balisacan clarified that the lower rice tariff was aimed at bringing down the price of rice to P29 a kilo only for poor households, including beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer program or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

“Let me clarify, the P29 is the target cost of rice for the poor, those who are targeted for the 4Ps. So, it’s not a general price,” he said.

While reducing the rice tariff, Balisacan said the government would continue supporting domestic production through tariff cover as well as increased budgetary support to improve agricultural productivity.

He said the President would issue an executive order to implement the new tariff program.

As one of the most critical components of Filipino households’ consumption basket, rice contributed about two percentage points or over 50 percent to the country’s inflation in the past three months, Balisacan said.

At present, the average domestic retail price of regular-milled rice is P49 to P51 per kilo.

Marcos’ campaign promise was to reduce the price of rice to P20 a kilo.

Balisacan gave