Customs collections up in Jan

MANILA, Philippines – Import duties and other taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in January not only grew year-on-year but also exceeded the goal for the month, the country’s second biggest revenue agency said Monday.

In a statement, the BOC said its collections amounted to P48.15 billion at the start of the year, up 17.9 percent from the P40.83 billion in January last year.

Actual January collections also exceeded the P45.63-billion target by 5.5 percent.

The BOC said it was able to “[maintain] the growth momentum seen since last year on the back of continuous process improvements being implemented by Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero, such as tighter watch over imports and import values of goods.”

Citing a preliminary report of the Bureau of the Treasury, the BOC said last month’s revenues were mostly cash or the duties, fees and taxes levied on imported products that entered the country’s 17 ports.

For 2019, the BOC is tasked to collect P677 billion, from last year’s P592.9 billion.