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Philippines: Government loses P1.3 billion revenue from reduced pork tariff
MANILA, Philippines — The government lost more than P1.3 billion in revenue from the reduction in pork tariff as the Philippines imported at least 76 million kilos of pork from April 9 to June 11 to bring down prices of the commodity.
The Bureau of Customs yesterday said 76.09 million kilos of pork were brought in from abroad after President Duterte issued an executive order (EO) that slashed the tariff on both in-quota and out-quota imports of swine meat.
Importers brought in 24.45 million kilos in April, 36.5 million kilos in May and 15.14 million kilos from June 1 to 11.
In-quota shipments made up 10.46 million kilos in April, 10.47 million kilos in May and 2.78 million kilos between June 1 and 11.
Out-quota imports accounted for 14 million kilos in April, 26.03 million kilos in May and 12.36 million kilos in the June 1 to 11 period.
From these shipments, the BOC collected P849.96 million in tariff. However, the government lost P1.35 billion in the process due to the cut in duties slapped on pork imports.
Issued on April 7, EO 128 reduced the tariff on pork imports to five percent within the minimum access volume (MAV) or the quantity of shipments with a discounted rate, and to 15 percent for those outside of the MAV.
Duterte then signed on May 15 EO 134, which superseded EO 128, to introduce a new table of taxes to be imposed for a year on pork imports.
Under EO 134, shipments of swine meat within the MAV will be charged 10 percent for the first three months and 15 percent in the succeeding nine months, while those outside of the MAV will be slapped 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
The order prior to it, EO 133, increased the MAV for this year by nearly six-fold to 254,210 metric tons, from 54,210 MT, to motivate importers to take advantage of the reduced rates. However, importers are prohibited from carrying over to 2022 any available balance in 2021.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III expects the government to lose P11.2 billion this year from the President’s decision to roll back the tariff rates on pork shipments. In the long run, he said the move would allow retail prices to stabilize following the supply shortage brought about by the African swine fever (ASF).
Based on computations by the National Economic and Development Authority, consumers will save up to P50.1 billion from the entry of additional pork imports.
Inflation in February rose to 4.7 percent, the highest since December 2018, on price pressures caused by the shortage in meat supply, especially pork, due to the ASF outbreak.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/07/07/2110648/government-loses-p13-billion-revenue-reduced-pork-tariff