The government has so far forfeited P2.52 billion in revenue from pork and P11.4 million from rice since President Duterte issued in May executive orders (EO) modifying the duties on both commodities.
AS it turns out, it’s not only the farmers who stand to lose with the government’s decision to lower tariffs on agricultural commodities such as pork and rice.
An official of the Department of Finance (DOF) has disclosed that the government stands to lose over P5 billion in revenue from lower tariff on pork and rice imports – funds that could have been utilized for the government’s Covid-19 response program.
The government has so far forfeited P2.52 billion in revenue from pork and P11.4 million from rice since President Duterte issued in May executive orders (EO) modifying the duties on both commodities, Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said Thursday (August 19).
“Since June 2021, because of EO 135, we incurred P11.39 million from lowering the tariff rates on rice. We’re projecting a revenue loss of P40.9 million until May 2022,” Tionko said.
“For pork importations, since EO on that was released, we incurred a loss of P2.52 billion since April. Now, we are projecting a loss of P5.4 billion by the end of the year,” she said.
President Duterte in April issued EO 128, which cut tariffs on pork to five percent from 30 percent within the minimum access volume (MAV), and to 15 percent from 40 percent outside the MAV.
Duterte then issued EO 134, superseding EO 128, which raised the rates to 10 percent on MAV imports and 20 percent on non-MAV shipments for the first three months upon effectivity.
For the succeeding nine months, the tariffs will then jump to 15 percent for pork within the MAV and 25 percent for outside the MAV, and will revert to their original rates when the EO expires in May next year.
On the other hand, Duterte also approved EO 135 that reduced the most favored nation duties on rice to 35 percent for all imports, from 40 percent inside quota and 50 percent outside quota.
With this, the government hopes to purchase the staple from sources outside Southeast Asia in an effort to beef up domestic supply.
However, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the government can absorb the losses in spite of the need for revenue during the pandemic.
He stressed the need to keep tariffs on the low in a period of crisis to make sure that consumers can afford their daily needs.
“That loss of revenue blunted the growth in the increase in prices of pork. It has really stopped the increase in prices by adding more supply. Now, [on] revenues, we are looking at the health of the entire economy and the welfare of the people,” Dominguez said.
Tags: #tariffs, #imports, #agriculture, #importduties, #DepartmentOfFinance