FISCAL. Customs beats nine-month target but trails its P1-trillion goal

Highlights

• P757.406 billion was collected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) from January to September, a record that cleared its target for the period.
• P242.594 billion is what the BOC still needs to collect in the final quarter to reach its full-year goal.

The Setup

BOC Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno reported collections of P757.406 billion from January to September this year, surpassing the P748.494-billion target by P8.913 billion. Speaking at the Collectors' Conference hosted by the Port of Davao, he urged officials and employees to intensify enforcement, accountability and operational efficiency to hit the P1-trillion target this year. He also ordered faster auction and condemnation of seized and forfeited goods and overstaying containers.

Source: news article

Our Read

Customs is ahead of its own nine-month schedule, but Nepomuceno himself said "we are still far from what we want to happen," and the remaining gap must be closed within a single quarter. The levers he named are faster disposal of seized goods and stricter integrity monitoring, which point to collection efficiency rather than a new revenue measure.

The tally is in nominal pesos, earned as headline inflation rose to 7.2% in September from 6.1% in August, a 1.1-point jump, and as the peso weakened to 63.859 per dollar on October 27 from 62.756 on September 25. Those official figures mean the record should be read in nominal terms, set against rising prices and a softer currency.

What We're Watching

• The BOC's full-year collections against its annual target.
• Progress on auctions of seized goods and overstaying containers.