Lifting of truck ban seen easing price pressures

The lifting of the truck ban in the city of Manila over the weekend is expected to help ease inflation pressures ahead of the coming holiday season, economic managers said Monday.

Trade is also expected to normalize as shipments would no longer get stuck for long and could be delivered at a faster pace to and from the port of Manila—the country’s biggest seaport.

“I’m sure it will help ease inflation. The only issue is, how soon will the operations at the port improve?” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo told the Inquirer on the sidelines of the 2015 budget hearing at the House of Representatives.

The decision of the Manila city government to re-allow the passage of trucks through its major roads “should ease the upward pressure on prices,” National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) director general and Socio-economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told the Inquirer in a separate interview.

Balisacan pointed out that the recent uptick in prices of basic products was part of the supply issue caused by the truck ban implemented in February.

Prices are seen easing ahead of the Christmas holiday season, Balisacan said.

But Guinigundo noted that there would be a lag between the time that port operations improve and the time that its impact trickles down to commodity prices.

Last week, the BSP reported that consumer confidence sank to an almost four-year low during the third quarter mainly on the back of climbing household expenses due to higher prices of basic goods and commodities.

As for trade, the removal of the truck ban would also facilitate a faster movement of goods to boost the country’s exports and imports, according to Guinigundo.

“There will be more inputs. People will be able to export as well as import production inputs both primary raw materials and secondary products,” Guinigundo noted.

According to Balisacan, an improvement in the efficiency of the supply chain augurs well for importation to be made for the Christmas season.

Moving forward, the lessons learned from the truck ban experience should be an impetus for the national government to immediately move toward decongesting ports as well as addressing heavy traffic in major roads, Balisacan said.

“The long-term issues are traffic and congestion. [The lifting of the truck ban] should give us breathing time to really put the infrastructure, including policies, to improve the management of traffic,” the Neda chief said.