MANILA, Philippines- Maaaring hindi umabot ang pinababang tariff rates hanggang 2028 gaya ng orihinal na plano sa ilalim ng Executive Order No. 62 kung mayroong “special changes” sa economic environment.
“Why not? It is already in the executive order signed by the President that there is a periodic review. If the situation changes, we must have [the government] that flexibility to re-examine its tools,” ayon kay National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
Noong nakaraang linggo, ipinananukala ng Department of Agriculture (DA) ang pagrebisa o pagrepaso sa panukalang periodic review sa taripa sa agricultural products sa halip na bawasan ang rates hanggang 2028 at maging ang pagtapyas sa taripa ay dapat na tumagal lamang ng anim na buwan hanggang isang taon lamang.
Binigyang-diin ni Balisacan na ang taripa ay kailangang repasuhin upang masiguro na ang tariff structures ay nananatiling nakalinya pa rin sa mga prayoridad ng gobyerno.
Sa ilalim ng Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, isang komprehensibong tariff review ang isinasagawa tuwing limang taon.
“Our tariff structure should be consistent with the rest of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASENA) because we are a member of the economic community,” anang opisyal.
Nang tanungin kung ano ang economic conditions na maaaring makapag-adjust sa implementasyon ng tariff reduction ng gobyerno, tinuran ni Balisacan na depende ito sa galaw ng ‘world prices.’
“If the world prices are about to fall, then you have to do what.. [how] you can adjust the tariff, that’s what many countries do just like what we do with oil prices too,” sinabi ni Balisacan.
“You have to have a mechanism to reduce the domestic price to ensure that developments outside, especially these sharp increases, are not transmitted completely to our local economy. That way, we stabilize our prices and we don’t suffer from high inflation and we don’t suffer from high interest rates,” dagdag na wika nito.
Samantala, noong nakaraang linggo ay opisyal na ipinalabas ng gobyerno ang EO No. 62 na nagbibigay-atas ng tariff reduction sa bigas at iba pang agricultural at industrial products hanggang 2028.
Sa ilalim ng programa, ang import tariffs sa bigas ay tinapyasan at ginawang 15% na lamang mula sa 35%. Kris Jose
