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Philippines: Customs September revenues down but sufficient to beat goal
MANILA, Philippines — Chronic weakness in global trade amid the pandemic continued to weigh on revenues generated by the Bureau of Customs, although collections were still enough to exceed the government’s tempered target in September.
Customs raised P50.2 billion last month, beating the government’s downwardly revised P37.7-billion collection target by 33.2%, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
Last month marked the fourth straight month that the bureau collected more revenues than programmed. That said, revenues in September remained 15.2% below same period last year as lockdowns at home and abroad interrupted trade.
“The improved collection performance is attributed to the intensified collective effort of all ports, gradual improvement of importation volume and the government’s effort in ensuring unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally considering the pandemic situation,” the bureau said.
Broken down, 14 of Customs’ 17 collection districts surpassed their respective targets for the month. These were the ports in San Fernando, Manila, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Batangas, Cebu, Tacloban, Surigao, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Davao, Subic, Clark, Aparri and Limay.
Customs, which traditionally accounts for a fifth of state revenues every year, mainly generate revenues from import levies. But after the health crisis swept the globe last March, the flow of shipments were crippled, translating to lower revenues just when government scrambles to raise cash to fund its costly virus response.
Adding to Customs’ worries is the strong peso. A strong local currency, which has appreciated by around 4% against the dollar this year, allows traders to purchase imported goods at much lower costs. Import costs, in turn, serve as base for computing taxes, which therefore go down together with prices.
These problems prompted the government to lower collection goals thrice this year. Under the latest revision last July 28, Customs is tasked to collect P506.15 billion, which if collected, will be 19.7% down from last year.
From January to September, Customs has collected P397.51 billion, down 15.4% year-on-year, data showed.
“Despite this performance, the Bureau maintained its border security measures against undervaluation, misdeclaration and other forms of technical smuggling and collect lawful revenues,” Customs said. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/10/05/2047371/customs-september-revenues-down-sufficient-beat-goal