Customs misses 2015 target

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs did not only miss its collection target last year, its total revenues also fell down from year-ago levels.

According to a statement on Monday, Customs collected P366.9 billion last year, down 0.6 percent from 2014 and 15.95 percent below its P436.5-billion target.

For December alone, the bureau collected P37.1 billion, below by 5.86 percent from its P39.41-billion target that month. It was also down 2.71 percent from a year ago.

Data is based on preliminary collections and may still change, albeit not too much, once the Bureau of the Treasury releases the government's fiscal performance.

"It's really a matter of lower value of imports this year," Customs said in a statement to The STAR, without citing data. 

Sought for comment, Alvin Ang, economist at Ateneo de Manila University, said last year's low commodity prices - which resulted in lower valuations and duties - had taken a toll on Customs collections.

"It's quite impossible to offset it with higher volume of imports, especially since most of our import requirements are already programmed," Ang said in a phone interview.

The peso's almost five-percent weakness against the dollar last year, while helpful, also did not entirely counterbalance low prices. A weaker peso increases the value of imports.

"Commodity prices went down faster than the peso," Ang pointed out, citing oil as an example. Global oil prices tumbled by more than 40 percent last year.

By port area, only three of 17 collectors beat their collection targets namely the ports of Zamboanga, Legaspi and Iloilo, the statement said.

Worst performers were the ports of Aparri, Limay in Batangas and San Fernando in Pampanga.