SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) announced Monday April 20 that its revenue collections for the first quarter of 2015 reached P92.2 billion ($2.09 billion).
The previous quarter’s revenue collections saw a 6.6% increase over the P86.5 billion ($1.96 billion) in the same period of 2014.
Cash collection was at P87.3 billion ($1.97 billion) in the first quarter of 2015, up by 1% from P86.5 billion ($1.96 billion) in the same period in 2014.
Non-cash collections from imports of government agencies paid through credits to the BOC’s account was P4.9 billion ($110.86 million), compared to zero in 2014.
Declining oil prices impact revenues
The 53% decline in oil prices from the first quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015 was the main factor in the slowdown in collection growth, BOC said.
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.
But collections from imports apart from oil products continued to grow strongly, partly offsetting the fall in collections from oil, BOC said.
Collections from non-oil imports grew by 24%, as imports of motor vehicles, food, iron and steel, machinery, and chemical compounds all showed growth.
“Developments in global oil markets are obviously out of our control. It’s difficult to imagine a scenario under which oil prices will recover sufficiently to restore collection growth to last year’s (2014) levels of 20% and above,” said Customs Commissioner John Sevilla.
On April 17, the agency reported that it earned P837 million ($18.93 million) from the sale of forfeited imported goods from the government’s public auctions.
BOC failed to achieve its revenue goals for 2014.
Official collection data showed that BOC generated P369.31 billion ($8.35 billion) in 2014 collections, P38.78 billion ($877.07 million), below the P408.1 billion ($9.23 billion) target. – Rappler.com
US$1 = P44.22
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