Duties and other taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in 2019 reached a record P630.6 billion but it still fell short of goal due to shrinking imports and a stronger peso.
The BOC total tax take in 2019 was P638.9 billion but refunds amounted to P8.7 billion, according to Vincent Philip C. Maronilla, assistant BOC commissioner at a press briefing on Friday (Jan. 10).
Net revenue increased by 6.3 percent from 2018’s P593 billion. The BOC’s 2019 target, however, was P661 billion.
The BOC exceeded its P548 billion target collection in 2018.
Maronilla attributed the failure to hit 2019 target to decline in import volumes.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released data on Friday showing imports by end of November 2019 fell by 4.6 percent to $99.2 billion from $103.9 billion in 2018.
Maronilla also pointed to a “very strong” peso in 2019 which slashes the value of imported goods and the amount of taxes collected from these products.
He said the BOC had expected P10 billion in additional revenue from fuel marking but the program implementation was delayed to February.
“But looking at the overall performance of the bureau and how the macroeconomic assumptions actually played out at the end of the year, I think we did well,” Maronilla said.