THE liberalization of rice imports would have a positive impact on the Philippine economy, the preliminary results of a study by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri) showed.

In a statement on Thursday, NEDA said that “under [the] 35-percent tariff rate, [the country’s] GDP (gross domestic product) would improve by 0.44 percentage points,” adding that “[t]he agriculture sector would expand as there would be more crop diversification — as uncompetitive rice areas shift to other high-value crops with relatively higher net returns.”

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