Where to now?

Egay Uy .

MOST, if not all, of us are reeling from the high prices of basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPC).  And the public perception is that inflation in August at 6.4 percent has caused the astronomical increase in prices of BNPCs.

Probably every consumer’s eyes have been trained on the National Food Authority for the perceived failure of that government office to implement measures to curb the spiralling prices of commercial rice. The NFA has its reasons which include the unreasonably low buying price it has pegged for locally produced palay at only P17 per kilo while commercial rice traders buy palay from farmers in the vicinity of P24 per kilo.

With this, the NFA could not cope with the required 15-day buffer stock because cannot purchase the right volume of palay locally, aggravated by the delay in the approval allegedly by the NFA Council to start importing rice months before the supply shortage got noticed by the public.

Then every Tom, Dick and Harry have become overnight experts on inflation and the causes of inflation.  No, I’m not an expert either but we cannot blame end-users or consumers for creating, or riding in, that negative perception because it really hurts the pocket to pay for goods at the much higher levels they are at now.

One headline on Thursday read: “Hike in bread prices looms.”  Who wouldn’t cringe at that?  Not probably the government oligarchs who enjoy the comforts of their offices and their air conditioned SUVs.  Not probably Juan who does not solely rely on bread for a staple item on the table. Certainly, the ordinary man on the street will.

Add this bad news to the already increasing prices of rice and vegetables, not to mention the consistently increasing prices of petroleum products, and we will see the true color of a hungry Filipino.

At the Economic and Financial Forum at Xavier University on Thursday, which was organized by the XU Economics Department chaired by Ms. Caroline Serenas, we learned that of the 12 “high flyers,” contributors to the August 6.4-percent inflation rate, rice ranked seventh only, year-on-year.

Vegetables, corn, fish, and non-alcoholic beverages already comprise 55.7 percent of the contributors to inflation.  Sugar, jam, and similar products followed with 9.1 percent.  Meat added 7.6 percent.  Rice, by the way is only seventh in the ranking with a contribution of only percent.

The other components of the consumer price index basket – fruits, other food products, oils and fats, other bread and cereals, and milk, cheese, and eggs – accounted for 20 percent, according to the resource person during the economics forum.

Then we learned that the department of agriculture has already started shipping out from Region 10 tons and tons of vegetables from south of Cagayan de Oro to the national capital region. Well, if we could help our fellow Filipinos there to cope with the expected effects of typhoon devastation on food supply, let that be one good gesture we can make. But will this not also increase our regional prices if we run short on vegetable supply?

So, where do we go from here?