Customs confident of hitting P1-trillion collection goal in 2024

MANILA  -The Bureau of Customs is confident it could contribute P1 trillion to state coffers for the first time ever next year on expectations of better economic conditions and improved global trade activities.

Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said he is banking on the rosy projections of the country’s economic managers.

“Our Cabinet secretaries are very optimistic. They say interest rates would go down. They have a good economic outlook,” Rubio told reporters.

“So I’m hopeful that our economy and trade will get better,” he added.

Duties paid on imports are the Customs’ main source of income.

Documents from the budget department showed Customs, which typically accounts for a fifth of state revenues, is tasked to raise P1 trillion in 2024.

For 2023, the bureau’s collection target was projected to hit P874. 17 billion.

Broken down, Customs is forecast to collect P118.3 billion from import duties and taxes in 2024. A bigger P624 billion is expected to be raised from value-added tax (VAT) on inbound shipments.

The bureau also targets to rake in P242.7 billion from excise taxes and P15.22 billion from other fees.

Preliminary data showed Customs collected P75.34 billion in November, beating its target of P74.25 billion for the month by 1.5 percent.

READ: Customs bureau reports exceeding target revenue goal in last 11 months

But compared with a year ago, collections were down by 0.5 percent.

The November haul brought the 11-month tally to P813.65 billion, crushing the bureau’s goal of collecting P795.97 billion for the period by 2.2 percent.

The Marcos administration is hoping to power up economic growth to 6.5 to 8 percent next year until the end of its term in 2028.

The government also forecast goods imports to grow by 2 percent this year, before sustaining an 8-percent annual expansion starting 2024 until 2028.