Revenue collected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in September declined 0.8% to P32.65 billion year-on-year and was short by 20.6% of the P41.1-billion target for the month.
BOC, in a statement, traced the decline to the 5.4% decrease in the total value of importations for the month despite a 20.5% increase in overall volume. Non-oil revenues rose 11.3% but revenues from oil products fell 33% to P6 billion from P9 billion the same month last year.
For the period January to September 2015, collections reached P268.229 billion, a slight 0.9% growth from the revenue posted in the same period last year, but 14.6% lower than the P314.171 billion target for the period.
Collections from non-oil shipments in the first nine months amounted to P25.525 billion, or 13.2% higher than last year’s but 18% lower than the target for the period. Volume of non-oil products grew 16%, BOC noted.
For oil products, volume increased 20.6%; although higher than the 11.7% target, value dropped 32.4%. This is due to the 48% decline in average oil price for the period in review.
“Overall, the decline in collection was driven by the drop in the total value of imports by 1.8% despite increase in volume by 17%,” Customs commissioner Alberto Lina said.
BOC remains optimistic about reaching this year’s target collection of P436.592 billion. The agency must collect P136.363 billion from October to December, or an average of P56.121 billion per month, to make the cut.
“Preliminary figures for October are looking up so we will strengthen efforts to meet targets by the end of the year,” Lina said.
Image courtesy of Victor Habbick at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
