Sunday, December 30, 2007 Customs falls P124M short
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu estimated its collection shortfall this year at P124 million, which it traced to the continuing rise of the peso and a drop in import volume.
Port of Cebu cashier Conrado Abarintos said they only collected P4.531 billion, about 2.67 percent short of the P4.655 billion target for 2007.
Port of Cebu officials were optimistic they would meet the target when they collected P4.191 billion from January to November 2007.
However, Abarintos said they were only able to collect P340 million for December, or P40 million short of their target for the month.
Assistant assessment chief Florante Ricarte said that when the P4.655-billion target for 2007 was set by the Department of Finance (DOF), the exchange rate was P48 to a dollar.
As of Friday, it was P41.4.
Based on DOF estimates, for every peso gained against the dollar, the BOC can expect to lose P2.7 billion.
Government reported last week that imports rose in October to $5.14 billion, or about five percent higher than the figures for the same period last year.
However, electronics imports—the raw materials bought for assembly in the country’s economic zones—dropped by nearly five percent from its value in October last year.
Electronics are among Cebu’s top exports.
Assessment chief Carlos Corsiga said that the Port of Cebu has a total of P1.75 billion in “deferred payments” from different government agencies such as the National Food Authority, P1.49 billion; Armed Forces of the Philippines, P11.4 million; Department of Public Works and Highways, P133.4 million; and Department of Agrarian Reform, P107.7 million.
If all these deferred payments were paid at once, their actual collection would reach more than P6 billion, or a surplus of about P1.6 billion, he added.
Corsiga, said, though that these deferred payments will surely be paid to BOC because the Special Allocation Release Order has already been issued by the Department of Budget and Management.
Last week, Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales convinced the National Budget Coordinating Council to reduce further the 2008 target allocation by nearly P19 billion—from P254.48 billion to P235.68 billion.
Morales said that it would be unfair to force BOC to meet the original target, with the consistent rise of the peso against the dollar. (EOB)
