MANILA: The Bureau of Customs (BoC) failed to meet its collection target in August, missing by over 25%, as the continued weakness in oil prices weighed on import valuations.
Data obtained by BusinessWorld during the hearing of the House Committee on Ways and Means in the lower chamber on Monday show that Customs collected P26.895 billion during the month, some P9.019 billion or 25.1% off target.
“The negative performance of the bureau, among others, is due to the decline in import value of oil products which… decreased by 36%, as a result of the 46.7% drop in the weighted average price of crude and petro products,” Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina told said during the hearing.
The August collection confirms that the bureau remains well behind the pace on its full-year target of P436.592 billion.
In June, Mr. Lina said the agency will not be able to meet its collection target this year due to lower oil prices, which more than offset volume gains. Mr. Lina this month said oil import volumes were up 20.7%.
In the eight months to August the BoC was running 13.7% behind the P273.06-billion target, having only collected P235.57 billion.
During the eight months to August, Mr. Lina also said that tax collected from imported oil products dropped by P20.167 billion or 33%.
Cash collections — generated by actual customs operations like those at the ports — constituted 97.88% of the total for the period, down by P1.97 billion and 14.6% below the P269.937-billion target.
Tax expenditure funds — a form of subsidy that covers duties and taxes on importations by state agencies like the National Food Authority — comprised the remainder of collections for the period at P4.99 billion, up P4.6 billion and beating the target by 59.7%.
The BoC likewise estimated around P244.147 billion in foregone revenue due to free trade agreements and tax exemptions granted by the Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and other investment promotion agencies.
