The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected P457.533 billion in revenues for 2017, 2.2% lower than the P467.896 billion target but 15% higher than the P397 billion posted in 2016.
BOC, in a statement, said preliminary figures from its Financial Service show that, overall, the 2017 revenue performance is at 98.5%.
“Despite the P20 billion deficit when I assumed office on August 30, the BOC gained steady increase in its revenue collection growth during the last quarter, reducing the deficit down to P10 billion,” Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said.
The BOC chief said that were it not for work suspensions due to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, jeepney strikes, and typhoons, the agency could have surpassed its 2017 target.
BOC noted that various reforms have been implemented by Lapeña, who took office late August, including applying the correct valuation in assessing customs duties on imported goods, and stopping benchmarking and grease money, in order to increase revenue collection.
BOC has been hitting record revenues since September, attributed to reforms being administered.
Lapeña noted another milestone to end the year as BOC recorded P44.450 billion in revenue collection for December 2017. This exceeded the P40.673 billon target for the month by P3.777 billion or 9.2%, and reflected a 109% improvement in collection performance.
Back in November, BOC also collected an all-time-high collection of P46.366 billion, 11.3% higher than the P41.66 billion target. This is P9 billion higher than the average monthly collection of P35 billion.
Aside from November and December, BOC likewise surpassed its monthly targets in the following months: January – collected P35.943 billion, 1% higher than the P35.5 billion target; March – collected P37.33 billion, 2% higher than the P36.5 billion target; May – collected P39.59 billion, 4% higher than the P38.23 billion target; and October – collected P42.915 billion, 1% higher than the P42.69 billion target.
Lapeña earlier said he was optimistic BOC would hit the P627 billion target for 2018 as long as they “do things right” and continue with the reforms put in place.
“If we do things right, if we go by the correct valuation, I am optimistic that we will be able to hit our target,” Lapeña said.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
