A man arranges his peso bills inside a currency exchange shop Friday, Nov. 9, 2007, in Manila, Philippines. The dollar closed Friday at 42.795 pesos, where the peso rose to a new seven-year high on prospects of further U.S. interest rate cuts and likely increases in remittances from Filipinos overseas. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)
MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Bureau of Customs missed its revenue collection target for May.
Total revenues hit P28.81 billion in May, 11 percent higher than a year-ago but 18 percent less than its goal of P35.09 billion due to lower volume of importations.
The BOC said the volume of imports fell nearly 7 percent in May from year-ago figures, due to reduced imports of crude oil and oil products; alcohol products; computers; electronic devices; industrial machinery; mineral products; as well as paper and pharmaceutical products.
Cash collections, on the other hand, jumped 10 percent to P28.53 billion in May, as the average value declared by importers grew 24%.
“Looking beyond the revenue target, our collection efficiency is improving as we enhance our reference valuation figures and improve enforcement of customs policies and procedures, surveillance and apprehension of smuggled goods. As we sustain process improvements, equip our people with better ICT tools and continue plugging sources of revenue leaks, we expect collections to become better,” Customs Commissioner John P. Sevilla said in a statement.
For the first five months of the year, Customs revenues were up 20 percent to P146.07 billion. Total import volume reached 28 billion kilograms, up 4.37 percent year-on-year.
Revenue collection from Subic surged 45 percent in May to P1.072 billion, while revenues from Cebu and Davao hit P1.16 billion and P836 million, respectively. (MNS)