(Bloomberg) -- As rice prices drop, farmers in the Philippines are asking President Rodrigo Duterte to review the law liberalizing rice imports passed barely five months ago, according to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol.

Farm gate prices dropped to 12-14 pesos a kilo from 20 pesos earlier this year, Pinol said on his Facebook account. That would result in an annual loss of about 114 billion pesos ($2.24 billion) for Filipino rice farmers, he said.

Pinol said he will submit the farmers’ concerns to Duterte. The law, signed in February, removed caps on rice imports and boosted supply of the stable grain. The measure was intended to help cool inflation, which in 2018 accelerated to the fastest pace in nine years and triggered one of the most aggressive monetary tightening responses in Asia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ditas Lopez in Manila at dlopez55@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net

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