Bureau of Customs (BOC) revenues hit P50.072 billion in July, surpassing its P47.674-billion monthly target by 5%.
Ten of the 17 collection districts exceeded their targets, according to a preliminary report from BOC’s Financial Service. These are Aparri, Tacloban, Limay, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Clark, Cebu, Batangas and Subic.
BOC attributed the positive performance to “improved valuation and volume of importation, coupled with the intensified collective effort of all ports.”
It also ascribed the increase to “the government’s effort in ensuring unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally considering the pandemic situation.”
For full-year 2020, BOC is tasked to collect P541.703 billion, lower by 26% from the initial P731-billion target. The lower revenue target was approved by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) in view of the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Philippine economy.
DBCC is projecting the Philippine economy to contract by 2% to 3.4% in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
National Economic and Development Authority estimates suggest that the potential impact could reach P2 trillion or about 9.4% of gross domestic product this year.
The government’s expected revenue collection for this year has been revised to P2.61 trillion or 13.6% of GDP. This is lower by P560.5 billion or 17.7% compared with the P3.17 trillion program approved by the DBCC last March 27.
