The total collection of the Philippine Bureau of Customs reached P29.1 billion in November, 27.4% or P10.9 billion below the P40-billion target for the month and 6.9% or P2.2 billion less than the P31.2-billion November 2014 collection.
The preliminary figures, based on Bureau of Treasury data, were arrived at after transferring P175 million to the trust fund for payment of value-added cash refunds on various importations.
Despite expediting customs services weeks before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, limited port activity still severely affected revenues, said BOC in a press statement. Truck bans, road closures and traffic rerouting schemes within the ports’ perimeters impacted revenues, pulling down the daily average collection from P2 billion to P50 million.
Special non-working holidays in Metro Manila on November 18 and 19 also resulted in bank closures, further limiting business transactions at the ports.
In addition, the total value of imports dropped 7.2% despite the 12.8% higher import volume.
The import volume for non-oil products grew 19.4% but low world oil prices dragged the value of imports by 0.8%, resulting in a collection growth of only 1.7% in November.
For oil products, the volume and value of imports decreased by 10.2% and 47.2%, respectively.
Total oil collection slipped by 37.9% to P4.2 billion from P6.8 billion in November 2014.
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