A “precarious rice situation” could stoke inflation and the declaration of a food security emergency will not be enough to lower prices of the staple, a former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official said on Tuesday.
Writing for New York-based consultancy GlobalSource Partners, economist and former BSP deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo said the plan to declare a food emergency, which will allow the release of rice stocks held by the National Food Authority (NFA), was not sustainable and could even force the government to subsidize prices.