MANILA: The Bureau of Customs (BOC) said its total revenue collection jumped 6.6 percent in the first three months of the year to P92.2 billion.
However, this figure fell short of the three-month collection goal of P103 billion by 11 percent or P11 billion.
Cash collection was flat at P87.3 billion in the first quarter of 2015, 15 percent lower than the 3-month target of P103 billion.
Non-cash collection, representing collections from imports ofgovernment agencies paid through credits to the BOC’s account, stood at P4.9 billion in the first quarter of 2015. There was zero non-cash collection recorded in 2014.
The BOC attributed the slowdown in collection growth to the more than 50 percent drop in oil prices year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015.
“Although oil import volumes rose by 19.5%, the sharp decline in oil prices, and shifts in the import mix toward higher crude oil imports at the expense of higher value finished products, led to a 38% decline in collections from oil products,” Customs said.
Collections from oil products plunged 38 percent to P14.9 billion in the first quarter of the year.
On the other hand, BOC reported that collections from non-oil imports grew by 24 percent to P77.2 billion, due to strong growth of imports of motor vehicles, food, iron and steel, machinery, and chemical compounds.
“Developments in global oil markets are obviously out of our control. We are confident that collections from imports apart from oil will remain robust; however, it is difficult to imagine a scenario under which oil prices will recover sufficiently to restore collection growth to last year’s levels of 20 percent and above,” said Customs Commissioner John Sevilla.
