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MONETARY
authorities are keeping an eye on countryside credit
policies and programs as their role in helping the
country achieve rice self-sufficiency is considered
paramount.
Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said
on Tuesday they are especially mindful of the lending
activities of rural-banks to the farm sector.
“The
rural-banking system is at the forefront of providing
credit to the agricultural sector. In 2007, total
rural-bank lending to agriculture, which constitutes the
bulk of rural banks’ loan portfolio, expanded by over 18
percent,” Tetangco said in an e-mail.
Credit
expansion is key to helping make the Philippines
self-sufficient in rice production over the medium term,
according to Tetangco.
“Self-sufficiency is critical if we are to shield
ourselves against the domestic inflationary impact of
external factors,” he said.
While
the Philippines is 90 percent self-sufficient in rice,
the government imports the other 10 percent.
This has
become a problem because only a fraction of the world’s
rice supply is globally traded and Manila’s requirements
happen to be the single-largest demand in the market,
according to reports.
“The
recent easing in the global pressure on rice has led to
a moderation in the increases in the domestic price of
rice. Nonetheless, the trajectory of rice prices and the
cost of inputs to agriculture continue to be uncertain
and broadly determined by global market forces,”
Tetangco noted. |
