No SRP adjustment seen amid fuel price hikes, Ukraine conflict — DTI exec

Despite the series of fuel price hikes and the conflict in Ukraine, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Monday said it does not see the suggested retail prices of goods will be adjusted.

At the Laging Handa public briefing, DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said they received an appeal for a price increase from only one manufacturer.

“Sa ngayon, because we have not received a lot of requests naman, iIlan-ilan pa lang rin yun and like I mentioned earlier, may isa lang that we receive after the Ukraine-Russia conflict, hindi pa natin nakikita na mag-a-adjust tayo ng presyo sa ngayon,” she said.

(Right now, because we have not received a lot of requests so far, there are  only few, like I mentioned earlier, we received only one petition since the start of Ukraine-Russia conflict, we cannot see that we will adjust the prices now.)

Castelo reminded the public that the impact of fuel price increases and the Ukraine conflict on the Philippines will not be immediate. She said it would take three months for these to reflect on the prices.

“We are looking at the next three months bago po mag-epekto yung nangyayari sa Europe dito sa ating bansa kaya sana matapos na para hindi tayo maapektuhan,” she said.

(We are looking at the next three months before the events in Europe will affect  the country so we hope that it would be over.)

She also noted that the inventory of manufactured products could last around 30 to 90 days and pointed out the prices of these items should not be affected by the recent price hikes and conflicts.

Castelo also supported stockpiling of agricultural products like imported frozen meat. — RSJ, GMA News