MANILA: Newly appointed Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina yesterday conceded that his bureau will miss its revenue target anew this year, blaming cheap oil imports for poor collections.
“We will not be able to hit the target this year as oil prices remain low and are not expected to recover to their early 2014 levels,” Mr. Lina, who succeeded former Bureau of Customs chief John Phillip P. Sevilla in April, said on the sidelines of a forum in Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila.
“The target is impossible to achieve given the current situation. Even if imports of non-oil item rise, they are still not enough to offset the forgone revenues lost to lower oil prices.”
World oil prices had dropped significantly between June and early this year amid a supply glut and a slowdown in the global economy. Recovery has been erratic, and not to levels seen in the first half of last year. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said last Friday it would maintain its output target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd), although its members actually pump 1-2 million bpd more.
The Philippines — whose fast-growing economy depends heavily on imported oil and is seen as one of the biggest gainers for the low price environment — imports around 100 million barrels, or equivalent to 15.9 billion liters, of oil every year. Other sources are Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Qatar, and Brunei.
Amidst a backdrop of cheap oil prices, the bureau collected P92.24 billion last quarter, up 6.6% annually from P86.5 billion but still P11.06 billion or 10.7% short of the P103.3-billion goal the government had set for those three months. The increment was likewise smaller than the 25.7% recorded in 2014’s comparable period.
Mr. Sevilla had said in a press conference last December that the bureau would miss its previous target of P456 billion for 2015, describing the goal as “impractical and unrealistic.” That target was then trimmed to P436.59 billion during the April 7 meeting of the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee.
With the shortfall last January to March, the bureau adjusted last month its collection program for the next three quarters in a bid to still meet the year’s P436.59-billion goal.
From April to June, it now aims to collect P106.87 billion, up from an earlier P105.03-billion target set under this year’s fiscal program. This consists of P16.33 billion in import duties, P81.63 billion in value-added tax (VAT) and P8.91 billion in excise tax. For the third quarter, the bureau is now programmed to collect P111.97 billion, up from P111.45 billion.
