The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) has collected P30.755 billion in February 2017, or 14% higher year-on-year but lower than the target due to the usual slowdown in imports during the Chinese New Year.
Initial data from BOC’s website show that the February 2017 figure is higher than the P26.82 billion collected in February 2016 but 7.9% short of the P33.41 billion target for the month.
BOC spokesperson Atty. Mandy Therese Anderson said the target shortfall is because “imports from China slowed down during this [month], which has usually been the case for the past several years.”
Out of BOC’s 17 port districts, eight surpassed their February targets and these are San Fernando (P248 million), Ninoy Aquino International Airport (P2.351 billion), Legazpi (P44.6 million), Iloilo (P229.7 million), Cagayan de Oro (P893.1 million), Zamboanga (P33.2 million), Davao (P1.134 billion), and Subic (P1.407 billion).
Though 12.7% short of its target, Manila International Container Port still contributed the highest revenue for the period with P9.3 billion.
Other ports that were short of their targets were Port of Manila, Batangas, Cebu, Tacloban, Surigao, Clark, Aparri, and Limay.
For March, initial data show BOC is already 1.2% higher than its P27.031-billion target, collecting P27.369 billion from March 1 to March 22. Anderson noted that collections in March for the past two years have been short of target.
However, asked if the remaining collection for March this year would be enough to surpass March 2016’s collection of P32.4 billion, Anderson said they are optimistic that “we can make up for the deficiency in February.” She explained that BOC’s Collection Service is still collating the results, and final figures will be out this week.
BOC’s collection target for 2017 is P468 billion, about 14% higher than the P409 billion target for 2016.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
