Customs surpasses Nov. collection target

THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) said it surpassed its collection target for the month of November as well as its goal for the 11-month period.

Preliminary data from the BoC showed that it collected P75.338 billion in November, exceeding by 1.5% its target of P74.249 billion for the month.

However, the November collection was 0.5% lower than P75.724 billion it collected in the same month a year ago.

Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that its performance in November was due to improved tax collection.

“If we’re talking about volume, it didn’t increase. (Our collection) was more on the efficiency of tax collections. (We) are doing great in assessing goods that are coming in,” he said.

From January to November, the agency collected P813.651 billion, 2.2% higher than its P795.966-billion target for the period. 

Its collection in the 11-month period accounted for about 93% of its P874.166-billion full-year target. 

Year on year, revenues also rose by 3.09% from P789.246 billion in the same period in 2022.

Mr. Rubio said the agency is on track to meet its collection target this year and may even post a surplus.

“I think we’re on track. We see every month we are recording surpluses, except for that one month that we were short, but we were able to recover,” he added.

For December, the agency is targeting to collect P78 billion. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson