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Amid oil prices soaring to record highs, the Bureau of Customs (BOC)
managed to push the limits of its revenue goal from petroleum
imports in the first three months of the year.
With Customs’ program assumption of $62 per
barrel, the bureau’s revenue collection on oil posted a
P3.04-billion surplus in January to March, Finance officials
reported in a presentation to the International Monetary Fund.
During the period, crude oil’s actual average
stood at P92 a barrel.
Volume of crude imports was likewise higher than
expected by 5.47 billion barrels during the quarter to 18.24 billion
barrels, which helped Customs to realize P2.7 billion more import
revenue. Net of crude oil imports, meanwhile, also registered
surplus by P1.64 billion.
Apart from oil import, the agency likewise
enjoyed excess collection from higher tariff rate at end-March after
it averaged 5.73 percent, higher than the programmed 5.3 percent.
With the above program rate, Customs bagged additional P1.44-billion
revenue.
Ratio of non-oil imports to total imports was
also above program by P1.96 billion.
But despite the positive impacts, Customs did
not attain the goal in the first quarter of the year.
To explain, the agency said it lost P6.67
billion to foreign exchange after the peso averaged 40.95 to the US
dollar, or stronger than the assumption of P47 to the greenback.
Government’s tax credits were also higher than
projected at end-April to P2.99 billion from P810 million, and
deferred payments suffered a deficit of P2.35 billion.
With P10.79 billion for positive impact and
P11.2 billion in negative impact, the agency’s target suffered a
P2.87-billion shortfall.
At end-April, Customs collection was short by
P13 billion.
Customs collected P21.7 billion in January to
April, an increase of 26.4 percent compared with the same period
last year.
“The strong collection of the Bureau of
Internal Revenue and BOC in April has enabled us to remain on track
with our revenue program for the year,” Finance Secretary
Margarito B. Teves said.
National government total revenues in the first
four months of the year amounted to P375.5 billion, higher by 11
percent from last year’s P338.5 billion.
-- Chino S. Leyco
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