Palace asks private firms to extend rice allowance
Manila standard
PRESIDENT Arroyo has ordered the National Food Authority, the state-run grain importer, to encourage large companies to fill their employees’ rice needs in the face of tight rice supplies and soaring commodity prices.
In an executive order she signed on May 2, the President said the NFA should encourage large businesses to either produce rice or import the grain for their employees.
“Moral suasion, not compulsion, shall be applied on large corporations to carry out the purposes of this order,” Mrs. Arroyo said in Executive Order 271.
Meanwhile, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board yesterday proposed a two-peso fuel subsidy for the transport sector in the face of spiraling commodity prices.
“It’s one of the mitigating measures to ease the effects of rising oil prices,” executive director Manny Mahipus said.
Public utility vehicles are to be given a two-peso discount for every liter of fuel they buy, but Mahipus did not say when the subsidy would take effect.
In Singapore, oil prices steadied in Asian trading Wednesday after hitting a record near $123 a barrel in the previous session on worries over supply disruptions.
Light, sweet crude for June delivery fell 7 cents to $121.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. The contract on Tuesday soared to a record $122.73 a barrel before retreating to settle at $121.84, up $1.87.
“Clearly there’s a lot of concerns about supply at the moment,” said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank in Melbourne.
“The market’s very jittery on any type of news, particularly supply disruptions.
In the same executive order, Mrs. Arroyo also promised a “package of fiscal or non-fiscal incentives as may be allowed by law” for large firms providing their workers with rice.
Large firms are those with at least 500 employees and whose earnings allow them to produce or import rice without affecting their financial stability.
In a related development, Palace officials said the government would have no problems financing its rice purchases, but it would keep its options open on the Asian Development Bank’s offer of $500 million in aid to countries hardest hit by rising food costs.
The ADB had also pledged to double its lending to $2 billion for agriculture in 2009.
“We have to look at their offer [to see] if we are eligible,” NFA Administrator Jessup Navarro said.
“The Department of Agriculture can make a study to find out how much interest we would have to pay, or who would benefit from it.”
Roy Pelovello and Gigi Muñoz David with AP
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