The Bureau of Customs (BOC) saw collections from January to May 14, 2020 slide by 9.5% to P194.454 billion from P214.836 billion in the same period last year.
The latest take is also 17.4% lower than the P235.290-billion target for the period, BOC assistant commissioner and spokesperson Atty. Vincent Philip Maronilla said in a recent online update.
For May 1-14 alone, BOC took in P14.134 billion, a 50.75% shortfall from the P28.701-billion target for the period and a 33.62% drop from the actual collection of P21.292 billion for the same period in 2019.
BOC started recording declines in revenues in March, with April posting the biggest year-on-year decline of 32.56%. The agency’s poor performance is attributed by BOC mother agency Department of Finance to lower revenues collected due to community quarantine measures in Luzon and other parts of the country implemented since mid-March to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
READ: COVID-19 pulls down BOC revenues by 7.29% from Jan to April
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said estimates by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) show that if the economy posts zero growth this year as a result of the health, social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the decrease in government revenues will be around P286.4 billion.
If growth is negative one percent, then the revenue decline is estimated at P318 billion.
The original revenue collection goal set by the DBCC for the two main collection agencies was a combined P3.307 trillion for 2020. Of the total, BOC was tasked to collect P731 billion and sister agency Bureau of Internal Revenue, P2.576 trillion.
