Rice imports to cool Philippine inflation, economic planner says.

Philippine inflation will ease from a five-year high once lawmakers approve a measure that will allow more rice imports, giving authorities scope to delay an interest rate increase. Inflation that climbed to 4.3 percent in March will cool by at least 1 percentage point once a law limiting overseas purchases of the nation’s staple grain is amended by Congress by the end of the first half of the year, Economic Planning Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said in an April 27 interview in her office in Metro Manila. Some economists are of the view the central bank should refrain from raising interest rates to see if lawmakers can pass the law on rice by June, Edillon said, citing discussions at the April 24 meeting of the Development Budget Coordination Committee. President Rodrigo Duterte last week backed the removal of import limits on the grain to boost stockpiles that were depleted.