The Philippines, the world’s largest rice importer, needs to invest more than P12 billion in 2011 to boost paddy yield and minimize dependence on already-tight global supplies.
Frisco Malabanan, director of the Department of Agriculture’s national rice program, said the entire requirement to achieve self-sufficiency in rice by 2013 might even reach P15 billion.
However, the outgoing administration allocated only P3.1 billion in 2010 for the national rice program, where the flagship project is to expand the areas planted to hybrid rice.
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The falling cost of dollar borrowing for the Philippines, helped by rising remittances, may prompt President-elect Benigno Aquino to raise funds overseas to cover a record budget deficit, according to BPI Asset Management.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows the yield on the 8.375 percent dollar note due in June 2019 has dropped to a record low as cash transfers from overseas Filipinos climb. The yield on 10-year peso bonds was 7.96 percent on June 25, almost 300 basis points more than the rate on the U.S.-currency notes. The lower panel illustrates the monthly budget, with the deficit in the five months ended May exceeding the ceiling for the first half.
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