Theory vs. Reality! HSBC ASEAN Economist Invited To Public Debate

(In June 2024, I challenged an Economic of the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corp. (HSBC) to a public debate over his claim that reduced rice tariff will result in lower rice prices in the market. I did not get any response. Now, he will have to eat his words and bury his head in the sand as NEDA itself admits that the reduced tariff failed to bring down prices in the market.)
Philippine Agriculture had always been thrown under the bus by swivel-chair Economic Experts who present unrealistic and flawed assumptions to justify wrong policies of government, in this case the reduction of Rice Import Tariff from 35% to 15%.
The Philippine News Agency recently reported that “in a briefing at the Shangri-la at The Fort in Bonifacio Global City, HSBC Global Research ASEAN economist Aris Dacanay said reducing the rice tariff to 15 percent from the current 35 percent until 2028 will help unleash 2 percent of household income, which in turn will support household consumption and boost overall growth.”
The PNA report added: “Dacanay said that under a best-case scenario, the tariff rate cut has the potential to boost growth by a maximum of 1.4 percentage points (ppt).”
“Consumption is 70% of GDP (gross domestic product). So that’s basically your household budget. That’s how much people spend. People spend 10% of their budgets on rice. If you reduce rice prices by 20%, you’re basically saving 2% of your household budget,” the PNA quoted Dacanay as saying.
“So let’s say if all the unleashed basically household savings or freed up household savings goes to buy goods that are domestically produced and all of them, basically all of them are spent, nothing is saved, then the potential, the highest, the maximum growth it could deliver is 1.4 ppt,” Dacanay added according to the PNA.
These are all flawed assumptions which do not consider the real situation on the ground.
Historical data will prove that reducing tariff or increasing import volumes never resulted in lower prices of rice, pork and chicken.
Somebody has to stand up to these Economists who peddle flawed assumptions thus I am inviting Aris Dacanay to a healthy and educational public debate on the proposition that the “Rice Tariff Cut from 35% to 15% Results in 20% Reduction In Prices and 1.4% Economic Growth.”
I will be available anytime and I could go to wherever they would like to hold this public debate.
It is now time to make them understand the difference between Theory and Reality.
#StandUpToFlawedPolicies!